Celebrate Earth Day, Every Day

We are seeing very clearly that if the earth becomes sick, then we become sick. If the earth dies, then we are going to die. People sense that something is wrong but they’re still struggling to go back and find out the real roots of the problem. And I think what we need to come to is the realization that it is not just fixing one economic or political system but a basic world view, a basic understanding of who we are that’s at stake. – David Loy, Philosopher

Celebrate Earth Day, Every Day

The evening of 9/11, I met a few friends for drinks. We were all in need of comfort and a feeling of community to help process what had happened that day. During our conversation, a young woman sitting to my right, joined our conversation by saying she hadn’t given much thought to the horrific events in New York City because it was so far away. My head whipped to the right looking at her and I am pretty sure I had my left eyebrow raised. I was speechless and angry. One of my friends caught my attention and gave me the nod, a communication between good friends that didn’t require words, telling me…down Cujo*.

I took a deep breath and calmly responded, ” You know, we are only about 500 miles from NYC.” and she said, “That’s what I mean, it is so far away.”

I have never gotten over this. And I guess after all these years, I never will.

If there are people living so insulated from the world that terrorist attacks within their own country do not rattle them, how on earth could we get people to care about African lions, tigers, cheetahs, elephants and all of the amazing creatures sharing out planet.

We All Need to Care

The Overview Effect, a phrase coined in the book by the same name by author Frank White, refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately viewed as a small fragile planet full of life, hanging in the abyss, protected and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. Astronauts tell us that from space, all national boundaries disappear, the conflicts that divide us seem unimportant and the need to create a planetary society united to protect our world becomes both obvious, imperative and from the Overview perspective, achievable if only more people could have the experience.

We humans are responsible for ourselves, and we are endangering our future. We have to learn how to do it differently and to go forward into a sustainable period, and right now that seems very difficult to see how that will be. But we have to work on it. Edgar Mitchell, Apollo Astronaut