I am presenting this video in celebration of Earth Day which was yesterday. Dugout Dick passed away today. I believe he was 94, having lived in a cave for more than 60 years. His real name was Richard Zimmerman. In this video, Dugout Dick's caretaker who lives in the next cave speaks about the simple life, the extremely simple life. Their hermit-like perspective and the extraordinarily bare living conditions that they call home point to a level of asceticism not commonly found today. Unlike them, we have become so deeply meshed with the accouterments of modern living that without them we begin to speak of survival. Thoreau's independent spirit and minimalist philosophy are well and alive in these children of the Earth.
When a member of the animal or plant kingdom goes extinct, there will be no second chances. Evolution will simply not repeat itself. There are reportedly eighty bird species that are unique to the Philippines and many of them have already made it to the endangered list. And we, to a great extent, have indiscrimate hunting to thank for it. In spite of two national laws protecting Philippine animals, the carnage continues unabated. The killings could occur as arbitrarily as guys getting together for macho time, or as a result of a well-planned hunting trip involving speed boats, bird callers, and camouflaged outfits. Either way, the outcome is the same. Philippine wildlife, our natural treasures, inches closer to a state of irreparable vacancy. Not too long ago, we learned about the Bacolod Air Rifle Club (BARC) whose unbridled killing of Philippine birds and ducks became the subject of an online petition calling for immediate government intervention. My post on that most disturbing c...
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