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Contents
No, We Can't Have It All by Derrick Jensen 4/23/10 - We can't have it all. The belief that we can is
one of the things that has driven us to this awful place. If insanity could be
defined as having lost functional connection with physical reality, to believe
we can have it all -- to believe we can simultaneously dismantle a world and
live on it; to believe we can perpetually use more energy than arrives from the
sun; to believe we can take more than the world gives willingly; to believe a
finite world can support infinite growth, much less infinite economic growth, where
economic growth consists of converting ever larger numbers of living beings to
dead objects -- is grotesquely insane. This insanity manifests partly as a
potent disrespect for limits and for justice. It manifests in the pretension
that neither limits nor justice exist. To pretend that civilization can exist
without destroying its own landbase and the landbases and cultures of others is
to be entirely ignorant of history, biology, thermodynamics, morality, and
self-preservation. And it is to have paid absolutely no attention to the past
six thousand years.
Post-human
Earth: How the planet will recover from us by Bob Holmes 9/20/09 - New evidence on how Earth recovers from extinction events and how long
it may take. Immediately after a mass extinction, the fossil evidence suggests
that ecosystems go into a state of shock for several million years. For the first few million
years the speciation rate actually falls. That suggests a wounded biosphere.
Extinction events don't just remove organisms from an ecosystem, leaving lots
of opportunity for new species to diversify. Instead, what we think happens is
that the niches themselves collapse, so you won't have new organisms emerging
to occupy them. The niches themselves don't exist any more. Eventually, though,
evolution wins the day, and after a few tens of millions of years biodiversity
rebounds.
The Air
Aware: Mind and mood on a breathing planet by David Abram
9/09 - I suggest that mind is not at all a human possession, but
is rather a property of the earthly biosphere—a property in which we,
along with the other animals and the plants, all participate. Mind, in this
sense, is very much like a medium in which we’re situated, like the ineffable
air or atmosphere, from which we are simply unable to extricate ourselves
without ceasing to exist. Everything we know or sense of ourselves is
conditioned by this atmosphere. If we allow that mind is a biospheric quality,
an attribute endemic to the wide sphere that surrounds and sustains us, we
swiftly notice this consequence: each region—each topography, each uniquely
patterned ecosystem—has its own particular awareness, its unique style of intelligence.
How We Talk About the
Environment Has Everything to Do with Whether We'll Save It by George Lakoff 5/20/09 - How the environment is understood by the
American public is crucial: it vastly affects the future of our earth and every
living being on it. The technical
term for understanding within the cognitive sciences is "framing." We
think, mostly unconsciously, in terms of systems of structures called
"frames." All of our
language is defined in terms of our frame-circuitry. Words activate that
circuitry, and the more we hear the words, the stronger their frames get. But
if our language does not fit our frame circuitry, it will not be understood, or
will be misunderstood. That is why
it matters how we talk about our environment.
Healing
or Stealing? - “You are brilliant, and the Earth is hiring…” by Paul
Hawken 5/17/09 - We have
an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy Earth in real time than
to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but
you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the
future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We
can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead
of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets
of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And
whenever we exploit the Earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering.
Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.
Is The Earth's 6th Great Mass Extinction In Progress? by Casey Kazan and Rebecca Sato 5/4/09 - A recent
analysis, published in the journal Nature, shows that it takes 10 million years
before biological diversity even begins to approach what existed before a
die-off. Over 10,000 scientists in the World Conservation Union have compiled
data showing that currently 51 per cent of known reptiles, 52 per cent of known
insects, and 73 per cent of known flowering plants are in danger along with
many mammals, birds and amphibians. Research done by the American Museum of Natural History found that the
vast majority of biologists believe that mass extinction poses a colossal
threat to human existence, and is even a more serious environmental problem
than one of its contributors - global warming. The research also found that the
average person woefully underestimates the dangers of mass extinction. Since
animals and plants exist in symbiotic relationships to one another, extinction
of one species is likely to cause "co-extinctions". Some species
directly affect the health of hundreds of other species. There is always some
kind of domino effect. This compounding process occurs with frightening speed.
Earth
Jurisprudence: Legal Rights for Gaia by Susan
Meeker-Lowry 4/12/09 - Earth Jurisprudence would be a system that takes human
rights and needs into account but not at the expense of the whole. For we are
embedded in the Earth and the Earth is embedded in the universe and the
universe is embedded in the cosmos. There is no separation in reality and
nothing we do or believe will change it. We have been able to create our
human-centered legal system because we live in that bubble of illusion, the
homosphere.
The New Age Of Extinction by
Bryan Walsh 4/1/09 - There
are at least 8 million unique species of life on the planet, if not far more. Through our growing
numbers, our thirst for natural resources and, most of all, climate change -
which, by one reckoning, could help carry off 20% to 30% of all species before
the end of the century - we're shaping an Earth that will be biologically
impoverished. We are animals too,
dependent on this planet like every other form of life. The more species living
in an ecosystem, the healthier and more productive it is, which matters for
us. When we pollute and deforest
and make a mess of the ecological web, we're taking out mortgages on the Earth
that we can't pay back - and those loans will come due.
A Manifesto for Earth by Ted Mosquin and J. Stan Rowe 1/2004
A
trusting attachment to the Ecosphere, an aesthetic empathy with surrounding
Nature, a feeling of awe for the miracle of the Living Earth and its mysterious
harmonies, is humanity's largely unrecognized heritage. Affectionately realized
again, our connections with the natural world will begin to fill the gap in
lives lived in the industrialized world. Important ecological purposes that
civilization and urbanization have obscured will re-emerge. The goal is
restoration of Earth's diversity and beauty, with our prodigal species once
again a cooperative, responsible, ethical member.
Not-So-Lonely Planet by Oliver Morton 12/23/08 - In its duration, as opposed to its diameter, the Earth demands to be
measured on a cosmic scale. At more than four billion years old, it stretches a
third of the way across the history of the universe, a third of the way back to
the Big Bang itself. Many of the stars you can see on a clear winter’s night
are younger than the planet beneath your feet. But the Earth has not merely endured; it has lived. For almost 90
percent of its history the planet has been inhabited, and shaped by life. The
biological mechanisms that first operated in the dawn of life animate the
creatures of the Earth to this day, forming an unbroken chain at least 3.8
billion years long. This unfailing, uninterrupted life demonstrates that the planet
is far from fragile. Our civilization may be — is — out of balance
with its environment; current human ways of life are frighteningly precarious.
But to read the fragility of our way of life onto life itself is foolish.
20
Ways To Save Mother Earth And
Prevent Environmental Disaster by Evo Morales 12/18/08 - Humankind is capable of
saving the Earth if we recover the principles of solidarity, complementarity
and harmony with nature in contraposition to the reign of competition, profits
and rampant consumption of natural resources.
Lawyers Call For International Court For The Environment by
Louise Gray 11/28/08 - A
former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for
the environment to punish states that fail to protect wildlife and prevent
climate change. Stephen Hockman QC
is proposing a body similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague
to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment.
Global-scale Changes in the Earth System 1750 – 2000 by New
Scientist 10/08 – Graphs of
resources taken from and waste products put into the biosphere as a result of the
dramatic increase in human activity.
11 Solutions
to Halting the Environmental Crisis by Yifat Susskind, 10/31/07 - 11 solutions already being put into practice by
innovative communities around the world. Many of
these examples are small-scale and local. That's instructive because our best
hope for sustainability may lie in local, small-scale models - where the
majority of people can exercise agency and decision-making power – like
some of those presented here.
Putting nature in Ecuador's constitution - L.A. Times Editorial
9/2/08 - In an experiment worth watching, Ecuador will ask
voters to decide whether nature has rights. As crazy as it may seem, the
movement to give nature legal rights didn't start in Ecuador's Amazon forest or
its Galapagos Islands -- it started years ago in the United States, in cities
and towns seeking to fight off coal mines, incinerators and factory farms.
The road to
extinction by Sarah Meyer 8/27/08 - Links to
articles from summer 2008 on the converging ecological, economic, and political
crises, with emphasis on climate change and species extinctions.
Ecuadorian Assembly Approves
Constitutional Rights for Nature July 10, 2008 - If
adopted in the final constitution by the people, Ecuador would become the first
country in the world to codify a new system of environmental protection based
on rights.
The
New Facts of Life: Connecting the Dots
on Food, Health, and the Environment by Fritjof Capra, Summer 2008 - There
are solutions to the major problems of our time; some of them even simple. But
they require a radical shift in our perceptions, our thinking, our values. And,
indeed, we are now at the beginning of such a fundamental change of worldview,
a change of paradigms as radical as the Copernican Revolution. Systems thinking
and ecological literacy are two key elements of the new paradigm, and very
helpful for understanding the interconnections between food, health, and the environment,
but also for understanding the profound transformation that is needed globally
for humanity to survive.
Ecology and Community by Fritjof Capra - The
understanding of community is extremely important today, not only for our
emotional and spiritual well-being, but for the future of our children and, in
fact, for the survival of humanity. As you well know, we are faced with a whole series of
global environmental problems which are harming the biosphere and human life in
alarming ways that may soon become irreversible. The great challenge of our
time is to create sustainable communities; that is, social and cultural
environments in which we can satisfy our needs without diminishing the chances
of future generations. In our
attempts to build and nurture sustainable communities we can learn valuable
lessons from ecosystems, which are sustainable communities of plants,
animals, and microorganisms. In over four billion years of evolution,
ecosystems have developed the most intricate and subtle ways of organizing
themselves so as to maximize sustainability.
Ecological Principles by Fritjof Capra - Creating communities that are compatible with nature's
processes for sustaining life requires basic ecological knowledge. We need
to teach our children — and our political and corporate leaders —
fundamental facts of life:
Matter cycles continually through the web of life.
Most of the energy driving the ecological cycles flows
from the sun.
Diversity assures resilience.
One species' waste is another species' food.
Life did not take over the planet by combat but by
networking.
Understanding these facts arises from understanding the
patterns and processes by which nature sustains life. In its work with teachers
and schools, the Center for Ecoliteracy has identified several of the most
important of these. It has helped teachers identify places in the curriculum
where students can learn about them.
Ecological Seeing: Walking in a Sacred
Manner by Charles Sullivan
5/13/08 - Over-consumption and waste and the
endless economic expansion they cause are the governing principle of capitalism
and over-population; and, like it or not, they fundamentally conflict with the
natural order of things. This ideology is counter to the organizing principle
of life and it has the effect of diminishing biodiversity and the ecological
processes upon which all life depends.
Blind Date
With Disaster by David Suzuki 3/12/08 - We are constantly warned by
scientists that our planet is in big trouble, so why can't we change direction?
David Suzuki, one of the world's leading ecologists, on how humans have lost
the vital skill of foresight.
The Future
Of Life by
Edward O. Wilson 12/6/01 - As we peer forward into the 21st century, it will serve well to
ask this question: What might we have overlooked about our place in history?
What are we most at risk of forever losing, most likely toward the end of the
century? The answer, I think, is this: much of life, the rest of life, or the
creation if you will, a lot of our environmental security, and just as
important, part of what it means to be human. Our relations with the rest of
life can be put in a nutshell: scientists have found the biosphere (and this has been due in good part to work just in the last few decades) to be
richer in diversity than ever before conceived. And that biodiversity, which took over three billion years to evolve, is being
eroded at an accelerating rate by human activity. The loss will inflict a heavy
price in wealth and security and spirit.
Is Humanity Suicidal? by Edward O. Wilson 1993 - The human hand is not upon the biological homeostat. There is no way in
sight to micromanage the natural ecosystems and the millions of species they
contain. That feat might be accomplished by generations to come, but then it
will be too late for the ecosystems and perhaps for us. Despite the seemingly
bottomless nature of creation, humankind has been chipping away at its
diversity, and Earth is destined to become an impoverished planet within a
century if present trends continue.
Diversity, Health and Creativity: Lessons for Living from New Science by Brian Goodwin, Schumacher
College
The Mystique Of The Earth - Thomas Berry interviewed by Caroline
Webb 11/02 - Thomas Berry's vision for an Earth Democracy
recognizes the unity between humans and the planet.
The Spirituality of the Earth by
Thomas Berry 1990 - I speak of the earth as subject, not as object. I
am concerned with the maternal principle out of which we were born and whence
we derive all that we are and all that we have. In our totality we are born of
the earth. We are earthlings. The earth is our origin, our nourishment, our
support, our guide.
The Plan by
William Kötke
Mother of
All: An Introduction to Bioregionalism by Kirkpatrick Sale
Earth I Love: Nature is the real source of our wealth by Satish Kumar
Real
Wealth: Redefining Abundance in an Era of Limits by Sarah van Gelder
Six
steps to “getting” the global ecological crisis by John Feeney
Scientific
Facts on Ecosystem Change - Excerpts
Based on A
Report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
World Clock – Of human births and deaths, species
extinctions, forests cut and replanted, oil pumped, CO2 emissions, military
expenditures, etc.
Breathing Earth –
A world map that displays the carbon dioxide emission levels of every country
in the world, as well as their birth and death rates, all in real time.
Center for Ecoliteracy, Essays – The Center for Ecoliteracy offers concise essays presenting the
perspectives of leading thinkers, educators, and policy makers. Contributors
probe the connections between environmental issues and public policy, the
interdependence of human and ecological communities, and education for
sustainability. Many essays have been written specifically for the Center and
new essays are added regularly. This is a rich resource for essays by a multitude
of Dharmagaians on sustainability and community.
Living Systems – Joanna Macy’s essays on living
systems principles - The greatest revolution of our time is in the way we see
the world. The mechanistic paradigm underlying the Industrial Growth Society
gives way to the realization that we belong to a living, self-organizing
cosmos. General systems theory, emerging from the life sciences, brings fresh
evidence to confirm ancient, indigenous teachings: the Earth is alive, mind is
pervasive, all beings are our relations. This realization changes everything.
It changes our perceptions of who we are and what we need, and how we can
trustfully act together for a decent, noble future.
Alliance for Wild Ethics, Essays – by David Abram and
friends
Thomas
Berry and the Earth Community - The Earth Community website presents
the far-reaching vision of American writer Thomas Berry, a leading ecological
and ethical thinker, about the role of humanity within nature and about our
relationship with the Earth and the Universe.
Center
for Earth Jurisprudence - CEJ’s mission is to re-envision law and governance in ways that
support and protect the health and well being of the Earth community as a
whole. CEJ seeks to develop a philosophy and practice of law that respect the
rights of the natural world and recognize humans as an integral member of the
Earth community.
Ecospheric Ethics – A web anthology of ecological, philosophical,
spiritual, economic and cultural articles, editorials and reviews exploring the
values of the planetary Ecosphere, its ecosystems, communities and wild species
- as the natural and time-tested source of a new and compelling "Earth
Ethic" for humanity.
Eco-Ethics
International Union – Humanity
can survive only with a new concept of ethics: eco-ethics. The roots of
eco-ethics are not revelation, faith and philosophy, but scientific research,
knowledge and compatibility between nature and humanity. The subject of eco-ethics is not a
single species but communities of different, co-existing forms of life.
The Current Mass Extinction
- Mass Extinction Underway
Environment
360: Opinion, Analysis, Reporting, Debate
New Solutions Reports
The
Sky, From Above - Some of the best photographs of Earth's skies, taken from
above - over 200 miles. Most are
from Image
Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA
Johnson Space Center.
The Gateway
to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts
the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the
Earth.
WiserEarth serves the people who
are transforming the world. It is a community directory and networking forum
that maps and connects non-governmental organizations and individuals
addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the
environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights
and more. Content is created and edited by people like you.
Home: A
documentary film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand 2009 – We are living in exceptional times. Scientists
tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of
natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate.
The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the
effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to
every human being. For this purpose, HOME is a free, non-profit film, and
perhaps the most stunning film yet produced about the history of Earth and the
challenges we face now.
Earth 2100 - (June 2008) In
an unprecedented television and internet event, ABC News is asking you to help
answer the most important question of our time — What will our world be
like over the next one hundred years if we don’t act now to save our troubled
planet?
Fritjof Capra, The Systems View of Life 9:45
Thomas Berry and the
Earth Community – Video
interview of Thomas
Berry and slide show with voiceover reading from Berry’s The Dream of the Earth and The Great Work.
GAIAlogues – Audio
interviews
Severn Suzuki speaking at
Earth Summit Rio, 1992 – A child’s view of ‘losing our
future.’
The Current Moment with
Brian Swimme
Pale Blue Dot with Carl Sagan
The BioDaVersity Code – Animated cartoon on the web
of life
Call of Life: Facing the Mass
Extinction – 3-min.
video by Species Alliance
The
Dodo's Guide to Surviving Extinction – 8 parts
The
history of extinctions on Earth. Can the Dodo help us to help ourselves stop destroying life on earth?
The Story of Stuff by
Annie Leonard – An informative
little movie about the insanity of our economic system and its effects on Earth.
Turning Prayer
into Action - an innovative 1-hour TV program connecting the mission of
the Bioneers with the wisdom of the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in a
live dialogue via two-way satellite feed between Dharamsala, India and Northern California.
Earth Spirit
Action - Vandana Shiva, Starhawk, Matthew
Fox, Ruth Rosenhek and John Seed speak about Deep
Ecology, Living Democracy and Revolution in Consciousness in a fast moving
discussion of the type of change that needs to take place for a Sustainable
Future. An inspirational, stimulating film including nature footage and a
colourful array of global action shots.
Frans Lanting: A lyrical
view of life on Earth – Nature photographer Frans
Lanting tells the story of life on our planet, from its eruptive beginnings
to its present diversity, via a lyrical collection of photographs set to a
soundtrack from Philip Glass. 2/05
Janine Benyus: 12
sustainable design ideas from nature
With
3.8 billion years of research and development on its side, nature has already
solved problems that human designers and engineers still struggle with. In this
inspiring talk, Janine
Benyus provides fascinating examples of biomimicry -- the way humans mimic
nature in the products we build and the systems we implement. And because the champion
adapters in the natural world are, by definition, those that can survive
without destroying the environment that sustains them, biomimicry can
contribute to the long-term health of our planet.
Planet
Earth – A BBC television series, directed by Alastair Fothergill and narrated
by Sir David Attenborough, about our planet’s best-loved, wildest and most
elusive creatures and places, captured in breathtaking images in the Earth’s
most extreme habitats. Shot entirely in high-definition film, with
revolutionary new aerial photography.
Six
Degrees Could Change the World - By the year 2100, many scientists believe that the
Earth's average temperature could rise by as much as six degrees Celsius. In a
compelling investigation, National Geographic leads a degree-by-degree journey
to explore what each rising—and critical—degree could mean for the
future of our people and planet.
Life after People -
Welcome to Earth: population
0 (2 hrs.)
"Planet
Earth": The Photographs by Alastair Fothergill
Earth:
The Power of the Planet by Iain Stewart, John Lynch
The
Dream of the Earth, 2006; The Great Work: our Way into the Future, 2000; Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as
Sacred Community, 2006 — by Thomas Berry
The
Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World by David Abram
Nature
and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World by Bill Plotkin
Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution by Elisabet
Sahtouris
The
World Without Us by Alan Weisman
World as
Lover, World as Self: A Guide to Living Fully in Turbulent times by Joanna Macy
Garden
Planet: The Present Phase Change of The Human Species by William H. Kotke
Limits
to Growth: The 30-Year Update by Donella H. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows
 |
| The Tetons, WY © Suzanne Duarte |
The rapid changes in our attitude toward the Earth
are also a source of hope. Until recently, we thoughtlessly consumed its
resources as if there were no end to them. Now not only individuals but also
governments are seeking a new ecological order. . . . This blue planet of ours
is the most delightful habitat we know. Its life is our life, its future our
future. Now Mother Nature is telling us to cooperate. . . . Our mother is
teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility. — HH Dalai Lama
The
‘world’ is what we've done to the Earth: a veneer of lines and borders, roads
and buildings, pavement, clearcuts and mines. The world is the veneer; the Earth is the core. . . . The veneer threatens to cut us off
completely from the Earth and its magic. Our survival depends on finding access to the knowledge in our
biological core and not on our continually expanding veneer. . . survival of
our species will depend on our ability to go deep into our core to find the
way. But the work will be done on
the veneer; can we change the way we choose to function in contemporary
society? —
Brooke Williams
Everything
is food and everything is excrement in the cyclic flow system. There is no waste.
This is the process of creating soil that plants can live on. It requires three
hundred to one thousand years to create each new inch of topsoil in optimum
ecosystems. — William H. Kötke
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability,
and
A trusting attachment to the Ecosphere, an aesthetic empathy with
surrounding Nature, a feeling of awe for the miracle of the Living Earth and
its mysterious harmonies, is humanity's largely unrecognized heritage.
Affectionately realized again, our connections with the natural world will
begin to fill the gap in lives lived in the industrialized world. Important
ecological purposes that civilization and urbanization have obscured will
re-emerge. The goal is restoration of Earth's diversity and beauty, with our
prodigal species once again a cooperative, responsible, ethical member. —
