i HATE this

World Famous Wildlife Sanctuary in Zimbabwe Faces Closure

It’s not just closure. Closure implies being closed for business. Due to lack of donations to keep the sanctuary running, and lack of food, in part because of the political climate of the country… the animals are starving. There is not enough food.

The wildlife orphanage, which has been featured in several documentaries promoting tourism in Zimbabwe, relies on donations to provide sanctuary to the 300 animals from different species that have been orphaned, abandoned, injured, born in captivity or brought up unsuccessfully as pets.

Chipangali is home to lions, leopards, baboons, snakes, owls, and crocodiles, among other animal species.

you can go to PlanetSave to get more information.

to further explain

In the last post, I did not do any service into explaining how climate change could affect national security. (As a side note, I want to emphasize that I tend to not fall into a mass fear mentality state of mind, and this is no indication that I am moving towards that, I just feel it is important to note.)

I found two other articles today that start to highlight why climate crisis and national security have the potential of being inextricably linked.

In the first article, Financial Crisis May Worsen Food Crunch it Eclipsed, via the Christian Science Monitor, the impact of the global food crisis is discussed.

And, although commodity prices for a wide range of crops have fallen by as much as 50 percent from record highs in June, the financial crisis is expected to make it dramatically worse: credit for farmers could dry up, meaning less money to buy fertilizer and seed, leading in turn to greater global shortages of food.

Why does this tie into climate change? Because the impact of global warming is going to make our food crisis that much worse. We are already seeing dead zones where nothing can be grown or raised. If we continue to have a water crisis, crops will not be able to grow. And, then there is the whole discussion of GMO food and it’s potential impact on food supply.

The next article, Mob runs riot as Zimbabwe runs out of water, via the Times UK, shows in concrete terms what happens when communities run out of natural resources:

The seething anger felt by ordinary Zimbabweans exploded yesterday as hundreds of off-duty soldiers went on the rampage in the centre of Harare. Witnesses said that the violence erupted at a bus depot on the edge of the city centre where soldiers, frustrated at not being able to draw cash from banks, confronted illegal moneychang-ers. The dealers scattered and the soldiers turned on the city, followed by civilians spurring them on.

Now, I do not want to lessen the reality that Zimbabwe is being affected by a dictatorial political climate, as well. But who is to say that couldn’t happen to us? In a worse case scenario, if we run out of food or water, do you not think that the President would institute curfews and martial law to prevent any social unrest? You bet he or she would. Or, if we were the only country that still had food and water, do you not think our borders would need to be protected? That is not to say we wouldn’t be helping people, but protecting ourselves may be something we would have to seriously consider.

My point being is that until recently we haven’t had to link national security and natural resources. But, things have dramatically shifted in the global arena, that results in the shift of policy. As I think about this, I feel more and more confident that we have chosen the best man, and therefore the best staff, for the job.

this doesn’t bode well

I just saw this article, and thought I should post it. There are two past posts that make this relevant. I have posted about The Elders and I have posted about the problems in Zimbabwe.

Three members of The Elders, including President Jimmy Carter, were denied entrance into Zimbabwe to initiate conversation about the ongoing issues.

“We are very disappointed that the government of Zimbabwe would not permit us to come in, would not cooperate,” former U.S. President Carter said at a news conference in Johannesburg.

It was the first time the 2002 Nobel Peace laureate has been denied permission to carry out a mission in any country, he said.

You can find the full article HERE

zimbabwe

A few articles have been released in the last day or two about the terrible situation in Zimbabwe.

MSNBC has a report, “If you rest, you starve”, in which it illustrates how the political climate has left people starving and scavenging for food.

The food crisis began after 2000, when Mugabe launched an often violent campaign to seize white-owned farms and give them to veterans of his guerrilla war against white rule over the former British colony.

Officials from Mugabe’s party toured the Doma district recently and told the new farm owners that the government could not supply their needs. They were advised to make do with what seed they had left, and with animal manure for fertilizer.

On top of that, in another article, Killer Disease hits Zimbabwe, shows how there is a cholera epidemic due to lack of clean water and poorly maintained sewage treatment.

And as the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe deepens, most hospitals have been forced to close their doors as they can no longer afford drugs, equipment or to pay their staff.

It is expected to get worse due to the start of the rainy season.

I think that the lesson to be learned is that, sadly, we are going to be hearing more and more of these kind of tales. There is enough food, but because of economy and politics it can’t get to the right places. As a result there is a rampant epidemic of a preventable disease.

Sad. So sad.