Most men are ruthless
But some will still weep
When the gifts we were given are gone
John Denver

Africa has been called the most romantic and tragic of continents. She is the Garden of Eden, the cradle of mankind, and the ancient stage upon which our earliest dramas unfolded. Despite 200 years of European pilfering she is still home to the greatest wildlife show on earth and remains a sanctuary for people struggling to maintain traditional ways and hide from the West.

On the other hand most African nations are racked with poverty, AIDS, malaria, illiteracy, corruption, and civil unrest. The majority of Africans endure the worst standard of living in the world with little prospect for improvement in the face of famine, disease, and malignant population growth.

A revolution in human understanding is the only thing that can save Eden now. With the proliferation and spread of humanity the Garden is on a collision course with doom. Forests are being “desertified” and wildlife is going extinct, or being sentenced to a life behind bars. Meanwhile more and more people are living a marginal existence in places that animals and plants once thrived.

We can take solace in our world of human comforts, but we cannot recover that which is lost. We will bear a burden of guilt for our deeds and heartbreak for our failure. The loss of Africa’s great herds and jungly profusion will signal a complete divorce of humanity from its own long history and a dismal disregard for the future.