Earth Day Should be Everyday
by
George Wolfe
George Wolfe
The April celebration of Earth Day in the United States inevitably calls attention to the damage we humans continue to inflict on our planetary home. Disastrous oil spills such as occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in the spring and summer of 2010, and the recent report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, should arouse in everyone a great sense of urgency.
In a world that is losing its rain forests, where our polluted oceans are losing the ability to sustain fish populations, and where glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates, it is vital that we reverse the environmental degradation humanity has caused over the past 150 years.
It is even more troubling to learn of the number of species being threatened with extinction. The majority of biologists now are saying that the earth is undergoing the greatest mass extinction since the time of the dinosaurs.
In the mid-1990s, Harvard naturalist Edward O. Wilson began estimating that thirty thousand species a year were becoming extinct. This is between one hundred and one thousand times greater than what is considered by biologists to be the “background extinction rate.” Researchers estimate that if the current rate continues, half the land animals will be extinct by 2100. The cause is no longer natural disasters, but human activity in the form of pollution, habitat destruction, climate change, depletion of water resources, and the introduction of invasive species.
In the broader sense, the environmental degradation that leads to the extinction of species is a violation of the principle of nonviolence. Exhibiting reverence for life must include respect for the survival of nonhuman life forms as well. It has become a moral imperative for our own survival that we maintain the interdependent web of life of which we are a part and on which we must depend.
Our present-day knowledge of the universe has led many scientists to insist that the earth is little more than an insignificant speck of dust in a vast and ever-expanding cosmos. Yet at the same time, photographs of the earth from space taken by the lunar astronauts, our increasing knowledge of the solar system, and our search for extra-solar planets, reveals to us how rare our planet is as a harbor of intelligent life, at least within the immediate vicinity of our galaxy.
The fascination I had as a youngster with space travel and space colonization, dreams of migrating to other worlds fed by Issac Asimov and movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey” have vanished. It has become clear that the earth is all we have. Our civilization is here to stay for a long, long time. And while the earth may be insignificant relative to the immense universe, we are privileged to live on a planet of such rare beauty.
Reversing the trend toward environmental exploitation and degradation demands that individuals, communities, and nations commit themselves to the sustainability paradigm. We all must do our part to support the research and development of solar, wind, hydrogen fuel cell, geothermal, and fusion nuclear technologies to power our civilization. Let’s help launch a green energy revolution with the same intensity that fueled the high-tech revolution that began during the latter half of the twentieth century.
Earth Day should be everyday!
George Wolfe is the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He is also a trained mediator and the author of The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence: Interfaith Understanding for a Future Without War.