A late-night NHK documentary on Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon left me reflecting on how deeply—and perhaps inevitably—humankind consumes the planet.
Last night’s NHK Special was a documentary about Indigenous people living deep in the Peruvian interior.
The program touched on the ongoing development of the Amazon, and it left me with a heavy feeling.
Slash-and-burn agriculture has long been an issue, but large-scale deforestation has become even more serious.
The footage of massive trees—grown over centuries—being felled one after another was truly shocking.
But this simply means that the Amazon is now the one being cut down.
Human beings have consumed timber for survival since ancient times.
And what we consume is not limited to wood.
We devour every kind of resource the Earth provides, to the point where it sometimes feels as though humanity might swallow the entire planet.
Environmental issues have finally begun to draw wider concern as climate change grows more severe, but they have long existed in different forms across the world.
Perhaps we have become a little more sensible through these painful experiences—but even if the pace of destruction slows at times, it never truly stops.
As long as human beings exist, we can do nothing but continue consuming the Earth.
All we can do is live with an awareness that we are entirely dependent on this planet.
I often heard the phrase “Let’s protect our irreplaceable Earth” when I was younger, but it seems to have faded from everyday conversation.
I want to keep that message in mind once again.
The Earth is not infinite.
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