Happy 50th Earth Day!
It's a special one. It was supposed to be a special one. Millions of people had planned on getting out into the streets to call for a big push for clean energy, protecting our oceans and wildlife, living more sustainably.
Well, in a way, we got our wish and then some. The canals of Venice are so clean fish are starting to return (the dolphins in the canals?
That was in Sardinia). China has blue skies. India can see the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years. Los Angeles no longer has to go to the movies to enjoy crystal-clear skies and unclogged freeways. Yosemite's wildlife is having a party—and elsewhere, too.
The Earth's seismic activity has dropped.
Yes, you read that right.
Less seismic noise. Think about that for a moment. I'm surprised the Earth's orbit hasn't changed shape, or the 24-hour day hasn't added on another hour or two.
How I wish.
This is what happens when you take the human partially out of the equation. Question is, why does it have to take a global pandemic to make us change the way we live and work?
Because that's how we—and frankly, all other living things—are wired. We respond when something directly impacts us. Especially when that impact is a threat. And when that threat is existential, we respond even faster.
So... why wouldn't we respond to existential threats like floods, wildfires, sea level rise, or crop failures? Well, we do—but that response is either hyper-local (think towns hit by wildfires or floods) or regional at best. A global response is much more complicated. Just look at the systemic repercussions of the coronavirus on the travel and leisure industries, energy producers, food supply chains, not to mention the more critical medical and healthcare sectors.
We can watch in horror as a series of wildfires burns the entire continent of Australia, but unless we're there, it's hard to respond in a way that makes a tangible impact. Of course, we can donate funds and needed supplies, express solidarity, and support efforts to change government policies, but on a personal level, it's hard to link our daily lifestyles with what happens somewhere on the other side of the world.
This is the whole matter of individual vs systemic change. POLITICO published an
insightful piece on that yesterday, in fact. I'm reading it a few times over. If we really want to achieve a world that's healthy, equitable, and enjoyable, it's important none of us get caught up in any of the extremes, on any of the sides of the environmental movement. Mama Nature couldn't care less about our differences, be they political, societal, economic, cultural, religious, or ethnic.
Because Nature doesn't follow norms or laws... Nature creates them. We humans used to understand that... and many of us forgot. It's time to remember.
~ Birgitte
