Public Wake Up - Your Earth is in Danger!

You Never Give Us Rest...

While most of us activists are still recovering from the election it's already time to get back into the fight. This week I received several urgent Action Alerts that involved violations against our environment. It seems the mighty grips of business are able to manipulate and control government almost at will. I see we environmentalists as the Thin Green Line — we are the only obstacle that keeps business and their lackeys in government from riding roughshod over what's left of our environment.
Oh, excuse me Mr. President. I think I found
your missing Weapons of Mass Destruction.

This week as I was driving through the so-called "countryside" I saw new housing developments going up everywhere. All the beloved woods that I so deeply love and grew up with GONE — GONE FOREVER! And I'm thinking, just how much do we need to grow? Just how much of our world needs to become Peopleland? Shouldn't there be a balance, and a sense of fairness, between humans and the natural world? Seeing the bulldozers crush every last tree in their zeal to asphalt America crushes my soul. For years now, every time I drive by a new development I scream "rape" and "murder." But no one listens, and no one seems to care.

First and foremost, I am amazed how ANYONE alive can NOT have a desire to protect our natural world. Come on, this world sustains us. If we foul our water and air and pave the last of our greenspace, how can we live a healthy life?

I especially hold religious people to a higher level of accountability. Come on, God created this Planet. Don't you feel an obligation to revere and protect God's handiwork? Are you assuming that God or the Government will take care of it?

Every person on this Planet, especially Christians, should do SOMETHING to protect our natural world, even if it's working at a pet rescue center or recycling aluminum cans. EVERYONE should help. If you don't, you are simply dumping the problems of the world onto your children and grandchildren. And please don't tell me "God will take care of it" or "it's part of God's plan" because that is simply shirking responsibility.

My dream is that the preachers at the pulpit, the talking heads on the TV screen, the business tycoons, the intellectuals, the working people, and the government bureaucrats will all WAKE UP and start protecting and preserving our Planet. Because right now when you don't do ANYTHING to protect the world, all you are doing is handing the keys over to the corporate piranas.

My friends in the development community
appear unwilling to talk with me about their
ongoing efforts to weaken environmental laws.

And when you pull up next to me in your massive SUV, with 20 fish and "W" decals pasted on the back, please don't tell me how good you are because you sing in the church choir, and what a lowly, scum wretch I am. Don't tell me to "get into the word," don't tell me "I've been brainwashed," and PLEASE don't tell me I'm a "wayward sheep." Because after a lifetime of wrestling with guilt and cognitive dissonance, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not the one who's messed up. Rather, I'm the little Yellow Canary who is vainly going "chirp, chirp" as the mechanized flotillas of bulldozers come my way.

But You Can Help...

I encourage every living person to help make a difference in some way, even if it means NOT flicking your cigarette butt out the window. There are dozens of excellent environmental organizations, and I encourage you to join the one of your choice. Help financially when you can, and get on various environmental Action Alert lists and respond to their urgent messages. I've heard several politicians say that they don't talk a lot about the environment in their campaigns because they don't HEAR MUCH ABOUT IT from the public. We have to change this. We have to jump up and down and make more noise than the well-dressed corporate lobbyists (you know, the ones with the bottomless pockets). Write letters, attend demonstrations, visit your elected representatives, and become an ADVOCATE FOR THE EARTH. And on a personal level, set the example by reducing your impact on the Planet and live in such a way that does not harm our future. Yes, you can do it!


"One With the Earth"

The logo design comes from my brother and friend Dan, a fellow activist in Pennsylvania.

About the Logo. The symbol defines all environmental concerns as interconnected parts of one overarching challenge, ensuring a livable world for our children and future generations. The symbol will be an ever-present reminder encouraging personal, corporate, and public responsibility for protecting the environment. It will increase support for sustainability efforts and build demand for Earth friendly policies and products.

Humanity is damaging and depleting Earth's resources faster than nature can renew them. The "One with the Earth" symbol was designed to be the universal visual shorthand for acknowledging this problem and for promoting the need for fundamental change in our relationship with nature. It is free for all to use. Symbol artwork is available at www.onewiththeearth.org. Also available are (in small quantities) free buttons, decals, and refrigerator magnets.

The Earth has limits. Prior to the industrial revolution, the Earth was able to renew itself faster than it sustained losses and damage caused by people, animals, and natural disasters. Now, for the first time in the history of the world, the situation is reversed. Living in harmony with nature, once an option, is now a global necessity.

What went wrong? There are two major factors. In just the past 100 years human population has increased from under 2 billion to over 6 billion. There has also been, during the same period, an explosive growth in wasteful consumption, toxic pollution, and careless use of new environmentally destructive technologies. The result is runaway destruction of ecosystems and depletion of natural resources — fish, arable soil, fresh water, wildlife, and forests.

Why isn’t more being done? Our political, religious and economic attitudes were formed over thousands of years during which time it was thought that resources would always be plentiful. It is therefore understandable that global conventions for living within Earth’s limits have yet to be established.

There is good news. There is sufficient technology and practical knowledge to solve the world’s environmental problems while actually increasing our quality of life. The bulk of the advancements took place during the past 30 years and mostly by private business and entrepreneurs.



The Canary Concludes...

And that is the message of Dan, myself, and a growing number of Yellow Canaries all over the world. You may not listen right away because much of what we say goes contrary to the way of living that you have always known. But, in time, my hope is that you will join us on our journey.