Who is the most intelligent creature on earth? Is it really man?

Eastern Australia is going through a torrid time. We have drought but it is not called that now. It is currently referred to as Climate Change and we are told that we will have the same conditions, and worse, from now on. Trees are dying, animals starving and agricultural land has become useless as there is no water for crops.

Our greatest rivers, the Murray and Darling, have been reduced to next to no capacity yet they used to provide food for most of Australia and export to the world. We have just experienced enormous fires, with loss of life totally c.300, 7,000 homes and at least 3 entire towns gone.

The heat this summer has been enormous with temps over 40* Celsius for up to 10 days in a row. In Victoria during the fires (which lasted some 3 weeks) they were over 47*Celsius

Add to that tally the millions of animals, including livestock and our beautiful native fauna who also perished. The ground is bare and even if some animals survived the fires there is nothing for them to eat and no shelter. The dam catchments have also been affected although there is no rain to speak of to provide water anyway.

At the other extreme Queensland has just experienced its worst ever flood with millions of animals dead, including livestock, and crops lost. It is also being hammered by cyclones, the third in the last month or so just this week. A cargo vessel caught up in it lost over 30 containers of poisonous fertilizer which led to a hole in the side of the vessel and now oil has pervaded the pristine beaches of the islands. Birds, sea life and land animals are caught in it. The containers now sit on the ocean floor to seep their deadly cargo into the environment.

A recent television program aired the forecast for this part of the world and its not looking good. More ferocious fires which are no longer called bush fires but 'mega fires', because they cannot be put out by conventional means. More cyclones and of a worsening intensity to anything we have so far seen are on the way. More floods and rising sea levels will inundate low lying regions and wipe out some iconic cities. Canes is in the mix and it has just had one of its worst water invasions from the sea.

Buildings around Sydney Harbor are loosing foundation support as the water rises and tidal activity undermines it. Its rather frightening to see a high rise apartment block with part of its foundation hanging in mid air. Beaches are being eroded up and down the coast as king tides hit more frequently and with more devastation. Dunes are being washed away, vegetation is disappearing and houses are falling into the sea.

But this is not limited to Australia. The same is happening globally and what was once agricultural land is fast turning into desert. Cities like New Orleans, which also had a devastating cyclone, is a city to be soon wiped out. Look around and it does not take much to make a list of all places where human habitation is on the brink.

But does man really care? In my lifetime I have watched the world's population grow from around 1.5 billion to almost 8 billion. Still religion and some governments are encouraging people to have more babies. So where is the intelligence?

People who would normally have died out during their seventies are being coaxed into living ever longer and some now well past 100 years with numbers of centenarians increasing. So where is the intelligence?

Does man really care? How many are prepared to change their life style, to give up the use of fossil fuels, to protest the disappearance of forests, most of which are being hacked down for wood chips? How many are giving up driving petrol driven cars when push bikes and other things would get them around most places just the same?

Isn't pride and convenience more important to humanity than life itself? We are destroying our home, the planet on which we live and depend. We are experiencing a huge decline in oxygen levels, a massive increase in disease including cancer, asthma, diabetes, Alzheimers, etc. We eat to extreme so obesity is another problem.

Does man really care? We are caught in the enormous power struggle that is going on between man and the environment. For every wealthy person the environment is taking a hit because somewhere down the track the money comes from it, one way or another.

While we are killing ourselves I can't help but think of the animals. The life that is also dependent on this planet. These beautiful creatures who just go about their business living off the land and surviving as the Great Spirit gave all creatures the right to do.

But man was never satisfied, is never satisfied. While food was always within reach to the hunter, gatherer, he had to do it his way. That was the start of it but now that religion and the wealth crazed pariahs have such a heavy hand in everything we are doomed. There is no way back because not enough people care.

Governments can't change polluting industries because of the big end of town, the wealthy who continue to reap billions from it. People can't change because we are dependent on the things the pollution provides. We have become more depended on those things than on the air we breath, in our way of reckoning at least.

We have become dependent on companies to feed us, warm us, clothe us, water us, and even bury us. But the animals, whom we call dumb, live on taking only what they need and polluting nothing in return. They pay for nothing and they ear nothing yet they are housed, fed, watered, clothed and, when the time comes, disposed of.

So who is more intelligent? To me man is dumb and stupid. A waste to the world and we are all guilty of the terrorism and devastation that will destroy us. We are all guilty because we are wiping out all life, including the so-called dumb animals.

So who is more intelligent? Are you? Not likely!