This view of Earth’s horizon as the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean was taken by an Expedition 7 crew member onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Anvil tops of thunderclouds are also visible. NASA photo, public domain.

-Y Court

When I follow all of our environmental problems down the rabbit hole, they always lead me to stewardship and the rights of all creatures. If all creatures were considered and their lives deemed important, we would not need tree cutting and pesticide bylaws, etc. As human creatures we inter-be with all creatures and the survival of each individual creature determines the health of all.

I think all of nature and resources need to also be included to ensure the health of all, not to mention a need for the natural beauty of the earth and our mental health. The health of the total global environment needs to be our biggest concern.

Currently, very little attention is paid to global health as wars rage, forests clear cut and garbage is dumped, etc. There is always the expendables!

If our survival depends on our local environment, we would be more cognizant of harming the important inter-connectedness of that environment and we would start to heal the divide between the environment’s health and ours.

When trees cut down on for an important human need what about the animals, birds and insects that live in the trees? Are their lives any less important than ours? Do they not suffer? What do they do when all of a sudden their home disappears? What would we do? Why can’t we still talk about the rights of animals and environments without being considered slightly ridiculous but we can talk about the value of a stand of timber and nobody (at least outwardly) blinks an eye?

So is the environmental problem really a (all creatures and nature) rights issue? At this time of global collapse, I feel firstly economics needs to be left out of the equation for everyone’s health and then our self-centeredness. With Covid we see that only the resources available seem to be important as money just seems to get printed as needed.

I realize a change like this is unrealistic (and how anyway?) and probably considered naive, but when I seriously consider the mess we are in, I always end up realizing that human self-centredness (albeit with good intentions mostly) has gotten us where we are.

How do we move toward a more holistic view of the world when a lot of people don’t realize poisoning bugs is poisoning themselves and the supposedly not-naive smart people that run the companies that make the poisons don’t get it either.

Why is it taking so long for people to get it? Can we unravel back past the industrial revolution and only keep the unharming parts and what are those? How do we downsize our lives to a place that allows all to live equitably?

I think a Chief Climate Officer could start building the momentum of that change and maybe help us quit dragging our feet. I realize haste and total upheaval are not good things, but somehow I always come away feeling like nothing has really changed.

Why can’t we learn from experience?

I know only questions 🙂  but at home we are trying to walk the talk. I realize we are still blind to so many things we do without even thinking. I am grateful and optimistic though because of all the heroic people who are working hard, dialoguing and solving the myriad of environmental problems there are, including Transition Sooke and our local Council. 🙂