Our Planet Is Endangered

[MikeLigalig.com]

Excerpt from the Acceptance Speech of Octavio Paz, the 1990 Nobel Prize Literature Winner:

It is impossible to know. The recent past has taught us that no-one holds the keys to history. The century ends with a throng of questions. Yet we can be certain of one thing: life on our planet is endangered. Our unthinking cult of progress together with the very advances in our struggle to exploit nature have turned into a suicidal race. Just as we are beginning to unravel the secrets of the galaxies and the atomic particle, as we explore the enigmas of molecular biology and the origins of life, we have wounded the very heart of nature. This is why the most immediate and most urgent question is the survival of the environment, regardless of whatever forms of social and political organization nations may choose. The defence of nature is the defence of mankind.