Earth Day: Shaken, not stirred
This week I was scheduled to give a workshop in Ft. Wayne, Indiana with my colleague David Cook who lives in Sweden. Nature threw a wrench into our plans via Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption in Iceland. David stayed in Sweden and I stayed in Oregon.
It seems appropriate that this eruption occurred so close to Earth Day. If one thinks of the earth as a sentient entity (the Gaia theory), could the Earth be engaging in a few pyrotechnics to celebrate the upcoming day in its honor? (I’m not serious.) Although Earth Day is often referred to as an effort to “save” the Earth, it is clear that Earth will remain for a long time, as long as it has the sun for a power plant. The current volcanic disruption is evidence of the complex interaction between human systems and natural systems, all borne by the Earth - hundreds of thousands of travelers affected, African farmers affected because their goods can’t get to the European market, millions of dollars lost, which may increase future travel costs for everyone.. In this instance, the eruption is not a result of human action, but it does remind us that nature always gets the last word.
Earth Day is really about life on earth, and specifically human life on earth. So along comes Bill McKibben with his latest book Eaarth, to tell us that we’ve already changed life on earth dramatically and irrevocably, as best evidenced by the change in climate. In some ways, Earth Day can be seen as a wake or a funeral, a mourning for what we have lost and are losing. Water and soil, beauty, silence and diversity in nature; all these things that sustain life, make it rich and worth living. We’ve lost a lot. But we still have a lot, and it’s worth recommitting ourselves to figure out how to live in a sustainable way, so that we can continue to celebrate the messy, complicated, systems- driven life here on earth.
Yes, it’s difficult. Paul Hawken recently said: "It's not like we're trying to fix one thing. We're trying to fix the whole thing, the whole industrial system -- every node, every aspect, every part of it needs to be addressed and re-imagined.” I’m particularly intrigued by reimagining and redefining wealth and success. Let’s define wealth on the basis of quality not quantity. That would be huge! So thank Eyjafjallajökul for the seismic reminder to shake things up and have a blast while we’re doing it.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 11:02AM
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