So on this morning, Earth Day '07, booming with sunshine and infrared glow, we bid hello to yet another Earth Day. We can thank Carl Sagan for this perspective and metacognitive appreciation of the loneliness of the planet we live on, the subtlety and meekness of our grasp on life, and the diversity and pervasive intricacies of "life" on our 'pale blue dot. Or, better still, we can thank NASA for taking that lone picture of Earth, compounded by the myriad Earthrise images that came back with the proud astronauts on their sojourn to the Moon many 'moons' ago. It was this picture that gave humanity, our lone communicative species, a view of "our" home; natures home. Or, we can thank the profound writers, teachers, leaders (well, ...perhaps not our Leaders, but for sure our leaders...), ... who put pen to paper, words to ideas, paper to hand, and who then and today stand up and speak loudly to posit ideas of our fragility and mammalian status. Nature, the land, the ecosphere, the world - it is all one rocky, active ball of rock that purports to explain nothing, but that has so many clues. 4.5 billion years of them. Humanity, homo sapien, is taking apt care of this rocky ball that is in free fall, bounded only by gravity, in excellent course. Excellent in terms of control, excellently-horrible care in terms of protecting the bounty of life and complex biological and ecological structures enacted.
One species, homo sapien, is drowning the planet in a murky tidal pool of synthetic chemicals and ignorance. Ignorance is drowning us through religion, politics and culture (some cultures).
On this, our proud Earth Day 2007, take a moment to consider that, no matter how much you 'love our environment', you are doing nothing to curb the problem unless you are doing something. Blowing out the candles on Earths birthday cake and saying 'I love you Earth' will do about as much as doing absolutely nothing.
Throw out the bible, Koran, .... , turn off your car, stop watering your snow and lawn, stop driving EVERYWHERE, choose less wasteful products, choose local food, choose local organic food, make your own food, grow your own life, stop shopping, stop vilifying people who choose against fashion and societal-norms of new clothes, fast cars, ... image.... , chose to walk to work, choose to wear a sweater and turn off your heat, choose to sign a petition, choose to start a petition, choose to run for office, choose to vote, choose to take off a shirt and put on some shorts and turn off your A/C, choose to car pool, choose to air dry your laundry, choose to not buy sweatshop clothing, choose recycled clothing, choose to recycle everything and reuse what you cant, choose to turn off your lights, choose to enjoy your freedom against societal perpetuated destruction of our ecosphere.
You. Choosing.
So, today, do not say I love you to our planet. Don't use it for an excuse to go for a hike. Don't use it as a reason to talk about "the environment" with your class. Don't. Please.
Use it as a reason to understand. And then live out that understanding everyday until the day you fall dead and rot. That is responsibility. That is what is needed. Enact a new reality for yourself, and make your existence one with purpose and one with reason.
Let our self-image take a rest. Let us hang our laundry, grow a garden, walk to work, shun the airconditioner sales van, shun biblical and political tyranny, and let us live symbiotically within our Ecosphere.
We cant go anywhere, so why ruin it?
Peace.
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