Oracle of Consciousness
Cause No Harm to Your Immediate Environment
I love where I live, work and play!
Chapter 6
Cause No Harm to Your Immediate Environment
Looking after and caring for our immediate environment
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
Albert Einstein
Much has been spoken and written about the condition of our environment, with courageous spokespersons like the late Henry David Thoreau, David Suzuki and Polly Higgins, to name a few, leading the charge to educate and inform people of the need to change.
Anita Roddick has made a sizable contribution to the growing awareness through her Body Shop organisation, and another is Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia.
“If we have any hope of a thriving planet 50 years from now, it demands all of us doing all we can with the resources we have,” Chouinard said in a statement Wednesday.
“Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source.”
Yvon Chouinard
Thanks to the wonderful portal the Internet provides us, we can become informed, knowledgeable and driven to action through the resources and inspiration of what others have and plan to achieve.
Some may see this planet we inhabit as a lifeless rock, circulating the sun with limitless resources and an ability to absorb every piece of refuse we can bury or burn upon its surface.
This is a rather naive and uninformed point of view and has resulted in an inordinate amount of damage to Mother Earth.
Just take these two words – “mother earth”, surely they imply that this planet we inhabit is a life form, a living entity just like you and I?
Ancient inhabitants, traditional tribal folk and modern environmentalist all agree, that this earth which sustains our every need, is in fact alive.
We walk, play and work upon her surface and when we respect her and all that she provides, we act in concert with her and our own conscious evolution.
When we degrade, deforest, pollute, or cause any form of damage, she does what she can to maintain the equilibrium, a natural balance, to ensure she survives and us, her charges, also.
Today she is struggling.
We as a species have gone too far and she is battling to survive.
Rampant deforestation, destroying the lungs of our Mother, pollution and degradation of her soils through chemicals and fertilizers, spoiling the air though toxic releases, smoke, airborne particulates and fumes, polluting her waters with more chemicals and poisons, fertilizer run off, garbage, effluent, etc., have all lead to today’s condition of the planet we call home.
It’s a sorry endorsement and sad reflection of humanity’s lack of respect for the only home we have.
From my perspective, before we consider colonising Mars, we should clean up our mess here on Earth!
Now we are faced with a choice.
This choice will affect every sentient being on this planet.
If we choose wisely and quickly to Cause No Harm, we can preserve the life of humanity.
If we continue as we have been since the inception of the Industrial Revolution, then it is very likely that the bulk of humanity if not all, will perish.
Mother Earth will not.
Take away the source of her woes, the human species, with our disrespectful and degrading ways and she will recover and regenerate.
The Earth will renew and regenerate herself.
The waters will flow clear and clean again.
The air will be pollution free and the soils arable.
Vegetation will regenerate and spread as witnessed at Angkor Wat.
The skies will be filled with winged life from butterflies and insects, to birds and bats.
The oceans and seas will teem with aquatic life in all forms.
Endangered species with thrive, along with existing animals and mammals.
In short, Mother Earth will be like the fabled Garden of Eden or more realistically, like it was before we caused harm!!
From a personal and organisational perspective, there is much we can do and we need to do it NOW!!
We, as individuals, communities, companies and organisations do not need to contribute any further to damaging the immediate environment in which we work,play and live by causing more harm.
We must act to reduce the burden placed on this planet’s ecosystems and all forms of life.
We must consider the long term effects of our decisions and actions and ask ourselves seriously,
Will this cause harm?
One of the ways we can contribute is through the five ‘Rs’:
Reduction
Generate less waste through more efficient practices
Reuse
Re-use waste materials in their original form
Recycle
Convert waste back into a re-usable material
Recover
Extract material or energy from waste for other uses, e.g. biogas
Residue
Efficient disposal of the remaining residues
Before we do anything that would result in harming the environment,
we need to ask ourselves:
"Will this cause harm?"
“Can we eliminate or reduce the source of pollution?”
“Can we re-use or recycle these used items?"
“Can this hazardous material be treated so it is no longer harmful?”
Are our waste streams being disposed of ethically?”
These days, there are so many positive initiatives being generated to preserve and protect the environment; things we can do individually or collectively, which reduce our damaging footprint and the impact our presence has upon the earth.
All we need to do is to move into action.
It all comes down to is making conscious, more responsible and far-reaching choices.
Would we willingly allow a dump truck laden with stinking garbage, plastics, toxins and waste to reverse up our driveway and dump its contents on our nicely manicured lawn?
I think not.
Then why then do we allow ourselves and others to pollute this place called Mother Earth, the only home we have?
Look after your environment, and it will look after you!
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