Even the largest oak, in the beginning, was just a small acorn, goes a saying.
It also applies to the problems of protecting the environment, water, air, and soil pollution, damage caused by plastic, and the disappearance of many animal and plant species. Too often in fact it seems that these issues are far from us, too big to face in our daily life.
We are wrong. We can all contribute to the salvation of the planet. No striking actions are needed, but a few gestures and a minimum of commitment.
For the human being of the past, Mother Earth has always had an organic, self-sufficient aspect of a living creature, rich in conscience. Mother Earth to them was a breathing planet, but above all, she was considered sacred. For centuries, it has been treated with the utmost respect in every part of the world. There was no culture that was not devoted to the one who every day nourished the human being with its fruits and offered him a drink with her water, gave him air to breathe and wood to keep warm.
Then came the progress that has darkened this wonderful living planet, plundering it and exploiting it of all its resources. Mother Earth has become our exclusive object of conquest. And so we did. We took, stole, tearing, cutting, shattering, tearing down everything that came in our way. The different harmonies of the natural world have been set aside as obstacles to progress and with them also that equally subtle network of human societies and cultures that had evolved and coexisted with that world for thousands of years has disappeared.
One of the most insidious aspects of this new society has been to persuade people that life on Earth has no metaphysical meaning or transcendent purpose. It follows that, in a society like this, where mankind is seen simply as a temporary biological phenomenon in the context of a random evolutionary process, it is difficult for people to worry about anything other than their own material well-being.
The mantra is: peace depends on prosperity, prosperity depends on producing and consuming more, and growing prosperity automatically derives from this increase in economic activity.
This vision is so ingrained in our culture and our politics that everything we are doing against nature is considered, paradoxically, as “natural”.
The time has come to reverse this consumerist trend before it’s too late. Mother Earth is not “our” product, as human beings, we do not have the exclusive right to it.
Healthy science and informed spirituality lead to a shared conclusion: the fate of mankind is inextricably linked to life on Earth. In symbolic terms, the Earth is not only our home, which we must keep clean and manage it properly, but it is really, as all ancient civilizations recognized, our “Mother”. A living planet, a sacred place.
Modernity has failed. We must build a new humanism otherwise the planet will not be saved.
–Albert Einstein
I agree. Earth is the mother of all. Everything that happens to Earth also happens to her children. The Earth does not belong to man, it is man who belongs to the Earth.
While waiting for the great of the Earth to find a common solution to tackle the problem, we too can do something to save the Planet. If we all “eco” small steps, the world can be a more beautiful and healthier place to live!
Our daily habits affect the environment in which we live more than we can imagine.
Aldo- your post offers a new learning for me.I am captured by your identification of a root cause of why humans are careless to the health of the environment and why we do what we do against nature.
It is “One of the most insidious aspects of this new society has been to persuade people that life on Earth has no metaphysical meaning or transcendent purpose. It follows that, in a society like this, where mankind is seen simply as a temporary biological phenomenon in the context of a random evolutionary process, it is difficult for people to worry about anything other than their own material well-being”.
But a question remains? why humans do not care for their new generations- composed of their children and close relative? Are we short-sighted to this extent?
Answering your question isn’t easy.
Perhaps to understand what happens we can do another one: does our species love the place where it lives? That is, do we love Nature? Because we know very well that, beyond so many beautiful words or the various “hard senses” (sense of duty, sense of guilt, etc.) in fact only those who love something / someone really take care of it.
To really love something / someone there are only two ways: that of the heart (emotion, empathy that captures us in certain situations, perhaps supported by a blood bond, such as that for children) or that of the head (the knowledge, knowing something or someone well, in order to get to grasp its value). Only in this way will we come to love and consequently to really commit ourselves to protect the object of our love.
Of course, it should also be considered that human beings have quadrupled over the last 100 years, and this has not only increased, in a very short time and to excess, the demand and, therefore, the exploitation, of natural resources (as well as the consequent production of waste of all kinds, almost never really disposable) but, through the phenomenon of urbanization, it has increasingly distanced men from Nature. As a result of this, not only a significant part of human beings no longer know the natural world but, especially in recent decades, a real syndrome of disconnection with Nature has been created, for which it is felt less and less the need of its closeness, of a deep and true relationship with it. In practice, today, for many people, Nature is only valid because it is needed or, in the best cases, because “it is beautiful” or because “it is good” (which are always forms of use, albeit scenic or healthy).
And since there is no longer contact, it is increasingly difficult to stay in tune. This is the real drama of Man, since it triggers a cascade process of inner impoverishment that leads to cognitive and cultural ignorance, to the loss of identity (of species, of people but also, at least in part, personal), to drying up emotional, but above all to the inability to resonate with the world around us which, like it or not, is still mostly natural (however ruined and contaminated).
And since there is no longer contact, it is increasingly difficult to stay in tune. This is the real drama of Man, since it triggers a cascade process of inner impoverishment that leads to cognitive and cultural ignorance, to the loss of identity (of species, of people but also, at least in part, personal), to drying up emotional, but above all to the inability to resonate with the world around us which, like it or not, is still mostly natural (however ruined and contaminated).
There is no better description of chaos and its consequences as this quote from your great comment, Aldo
Thank you!
Untill next time.
Aldo: I can’t argue with your points or the logic underwriting them. I would suggest though that some leadership would be helpful. Not those that preach one thing and set the example by doing the opposit. Leadership that tells us to sacrifice, conserve, change our habits while they use their privat jet to hop between their several mega-masions and mega yachts.
I respect (and actually share) your observations.
In the answer I gave to Ali Anani, again in this article, there is my attempt to understand why man has become so short-sighted. But this does not exclude that leadership is necessary, at all levels, to guide, guide and, above all, set a good example.
But how do you “persuade” people not to throw appliances in the sea, plastic on mountain trails (even those traveled by climbers who say they love and climb the mountain for passion). How do you prevent many people today from throwing anti-covid masks in the lawns, on the street, on the sidewalks.
We have done too much damage and we need to rebuild a culture of civility, certainly starting with those who have to lead by example, but also with individuals who must become aware and not shortsighted, perhaps always blaming someone else.
Thank you for following me and for the comment that gives substance to the discussion.