Of Neptune and the Environment

Joplin, MO, after mile-wide tornado

What have we learned?  

For the past 13 years, Neptune has been in the sign of Aquarius.  It made a brief entrance into Pisces this Spring, but has returned this Summer to complete the Neptune in Aquarius cycle, before finally re-entering Pisces in February 2012.  Neptune represents the global zeitgeist, the mores, customs, the universal pathos and culture.  It represents the idealistic backdrop within the human community.  Neptune recognizes no boundaries or limits, its essential essence reflects universal expressions of compassion, inspiration, and connectedness.  While in Aquarius we were challenged to not only recognize our interconnectedness, but to make it a more ‘conscious’ reality, through inventive technology and reaching beyond our previous comfort zones.
the collective, scientific exploration and discovery, the collective consciousness, invention

Throughout the Neptune in Aquarius era we’ve been inspired to experiment and question the status quo.  Aquarius is a detached, intellectual sign.. and through its auspices, we have woven our connections through the Aquarian world of the media, the internet, networking, and the global web of ‘communications’.  Our culture has been redefined by our relationship to the internet, through technology and greater global access... we truly have become a global village.
individuality, the iconoclast, the revolutionary, freedom, the non-conformist, the acceptance of differences in culture and orientation

One of the negative sides of the ready access to information and global influence has been the Murdochian ease of manipulation of the collective by sowing misinformation and lies through this same media.  Ideally, Neptune in Aquarius has enabled a broader understanding and immediate access to injustices throughout the world, raising awareness and compassion, and a desire to help. 
But Neptune also rules masks, fakes, manipulators and liars, who have used the evolving technology and accessibility to the collective, in order to deceive and manipulate the public.
thinking outside the box, genius, networking, computers, revolutionary changes, crises

Floods in Vermont from Hurricane Irene

In the Neptune in Aquarius era we had the opportunity to consciously recognize our inter-relationships with each other on this planet... and that what anyone does on one part of the globe, affects us all.  Part of this has been coming to understand our relationship to our environment, and our affects on it.  And in recognizing what effects we were having.... do something about it.

Nine out of 10 of the hottest years on record occurred in the past 13 years (the Neptune in Aquarius era), with the hottest years ever measured (since the system began in the 1880’s) in 2005 and 2010. 

With increased heat, there is increased moisture in the air, resulting in unprecedented monster storms and flooding.   In 2005, Hurricane Katrina was not only the most costly hurricane, it was also one of the 5 deadliest hurricanes in US History. In 2010, unprecedented monsoons in Pakistan resulted in 20 million people being displaced.  In January, Australia also saw unprecedented floods encompassing an area that was larger than France and Germany combined.  For the past year it has rained in Columbia almost continuously resulting in their facing their worst natural disaster in history.  Terrifying mile-wide tornadoes cut whole swaths out of towns and villages in the Midwest of the US this year.  And record snow falls blanketed the Northeast US last Winter, while record amounts of snow and rainfall resulted in unprecedented flooding of the Souris and Missouri rivers.  And monster Hurricane Irene, the size of Western Europe, dumped heavy rains in the Northeast US, destroying whole towns, and devastating the entire state of Vermont. 

“What’s happening with the planet’s climate right now needs to be a wake-up call to all of us.” ~ Dmitry Medvedev

With larger storms, there are also going to be increased periods of time between these monster storms that suck up all the moisture, resulting in record droughts.  Droughts have more than doubled since the 1970’s.  We’ve seen this in Russia last year... and currently in Texas and Arizona, China and France.. and the poor beleaguered nation of Somalia.  The National Center for Atmospheric Research warns that huge areas of the world’s most populated areas will be experiencing extreme drought conditions within decades resulting in famine and starvation for millions.

Ironically with all this flooding.. the end result is a scarcity of fresh water and food.  Paleontologist from the University of Washington, Peter Ward, has predicted: “The scary thing is that we’ve got an intersection of declining freshwater and too many people... And the freshwater decline is due to global warming.  The lowest lying lands have the richest soil, and these are the lands that the rising sea level is going to salinize.” 

"The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change," Munich Re, one of the two largest reinsurance companies in the world, recently stated. "The view that weather extremes are more frequent and intense due to global warming coincides with the current state of scientific knowledge."

 So why aren’t we hearing about this across the air waves?  Why isn’t this being made a priority?  We can partially blame the astrological weather... Neptune in Aquarius.. the manipulation of the collective through lies and misinformation.  And we can also blame ourselves. 

Selfishness is essentially conservative, and hates being disturbed. It prefers an easy-going, unexacting lie to the greatest truth, if the latter requires the sacrifice of one’s smallest comfort.
 ~from The Key to Theosophy by HPBlavatsky

In Al Gore’s article, The Climate of Denial, he points out that the major polluters themselves, along with the Ideologues that promote them, are actually bankrolling ‘pseudo-scientists’ in order to create doubt about climate change.. despite the fact that 98% of climate scientists say that the evidence is irrefutable.  These same corporations and individuals buy elected officials with bribes that the politicians themselves have now made legal.  And they spend millions of dollars on misleading ads in the mass media.  There are 4 anti-climate lobbyists in Washington, DC for every Senator and Representative in Congress. 

We were being given an opportunity to make radical and necessary changes.  Yet the United States, has not only refused to keep up with the rest of the Western world in acknowledging that there is a problem, and doing something about it, but have made concerted efforts to refute the actual evidence. 

With Neptune back in Aquarius... we’re being beckoned to have another chance, before Neptune enters Pisces again next February... the sign of dissolution.  Through Pisces we have the opportunity to work together, as one common community, swimming in this same ocean of life together.  We can be willing to make small sacrifices for the greater good of humanity and our world, or we can ignore and deny all that we have been consciously made aware of... and suffer the toxic consequences.