On Earth Day, Not a Lot to Celebrate in America.
A better writer than I am explains where we are, and why there is still hope.
Sawubona.
About three years ago I became acquainted with the work of Dr. Carl Safina, whose articles I link you to here. In the ensuring years I have bought, read and studied his books, and become deeply impressed not only with his passion for our world but also the work that the Safina Center does to protect it.
Enough so that when it’s my turn to die, half of what I have goes to what they do, to better ensure that what makes the Earth beautiful has half a fighting chance. Right now, it doesn’t look very good. Here’s why:
We used to be a proud country, with proud standards, with much to be excited about. I wore a uniform in support of that country. In many ways we are a country in steep decline. We no longer have the moral authority to set any example for other countries, other than greed, greed and more greed.
But that’s just my opinion. You certainly don’t have to agree.
Dr. Safina periodically sends out emails. This morning he also included an article by his wife:
Dr. Safina and his wife are Boomers. I am a Boomer. I stand for everything that the fundamental and important laws of my generation were written to protect: Endangered Species, Clean Air, Clean Water, the EPA, ALL OF IT.
ALL OF IT.
We are hardly alone. While it is perfectly fair to say that a good bit of what is evil right now is also perpetuated by Boomers and their families, it is also both useless and puerile to blame an entire generation for the behavior of some. Just as it is puerile to blame any generation on the behavior of a few. Please see:
Every generation has its evil robber barons. EVERY generation. Gen Z will have theirs. Give it time. Because greed isn’t generational. It’s just human.
But back to Safina.
I have traveled to many of the same places this great man, this scientist, writer, seeker and much-awarded ecologist, has traveled. I’ve seen many of the same things he has seen: the melting glaciers of Svalbard where the Earth’s entire seed banks are stored, the deep Amazon forests. And I care just as much, albeit in different ways. I share neither his scientific background nor his intimate and terrifying knowledge of the carnage that he’s witnessed first-hand as a researcher.
I have had to close his books and weep for what we have done to ourselves and those with whom we share it.
This is what Safina wrote as our current Conditions began to wreak their terrible havoc:
Nature has of late been messing with us because we don’t seem to understand that we need to stop messing with Nature where we do not and never will belong.
Because it’s important to also speak to why conservation matters, and why you and I can indeed make a difference, here then is another article he provided which speaks volumes to the fact that actions work:
I just got a package the other day from the Safina Center: my two autographed copies of Safina’s latest work:
(nb I do not work for the Safina Center, nor do I receive any benefit from these links.)
However you might get a lot of benefit from not only this work but the one that introduced me to Safina’s work in the first place:
Today is Earth Day. I recommend this reading to remind you of why we created one in the first place. I share this material to underscore the importance not only of facing the world and our own country as it is, not as we might wish it to be. We don’t live in a Disney-esque, carefully-curated PR version of the world. We live in a badly-damaged and abused one.
You can complain. You can blame. Or you can get involved.
I come from a generation of activists. I have put my money AND my mouth where my heart lies. I support organizations doing what I consider to do the right work for the right reasons at the right time. I vote. I share what I consider to be critical information. What you choose to do, or not, is up to you. However, to my mind, sitting back and blaming aren’t options.
Safina writes beautiful, heartfelt prose about the animals so many of us care so much about. That, along with the aching reality of what we have done to them and their worlds in the name of reckless development can be difficult reading. But for me it’s an invitation. A call to action.
We are not helpless. You and I can vote. You and I can agitate. We can write. We can inform. We can share important information. We can donate. We can indeed advocate and fight back and take our environment and Earth back. While this Administration has wrought terrible damage, we can put a stop to it and begin the long, hard road back. Because as Safina’s article above proves, action works.
This is an all-generation, all-human issue. If you care about our Earth, if you care about Her animals, if you care about our role on this planet, I would invite you to read. Act. Vote. Take a stand.
Just liking a Facebook meme is meaningless. Do something.
Even sheltered, we can take a stand. Or not. Up to you.
