Earth Day: Halting Reverse Evolution

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Earth Day: Halting Reverse Evolution

"We Are In A Race Against Time"

MASSACHUSETTS, WEST ROXBURY, Apr. 14 -/E-Wire/-- Since the first Earth Day in 1970, surprise events have hurled us closer to ecological bankruptcy. We are clogging the natural flows and reversing the evolutionary process. Let us avoid the tipping point, become "leaderful" and put spunk back into Earth Day and into our lives and work every day.

Earth Day 2003 finds us over-harvesting the oceans and consuming the forests. Water shortages are mushrooming. Invisible waste (greenhouse gases, CFCs, etc.) is now ten times that of solid waste, which itself continues to swell. Human population growth escalates. Society's demand for resources continues to rise while ecosystems unravel. Warfare plunders people and the planet. Economic insecurity threatens our well-being. Mass extinction intensifies... and our species is not exempt. Because of unknown thresholds and lethal mega-interactions, we are in a race against time.

A world teeming with sorrow and convulsed by violence, terrorism war, pollution, and injustice is more than good hearts can endure. Let us invent a higher social intelligence and a new culture to boost humanity's prospects.

The good news is that this is not completely new to human history. The earliest farmers spread a new culture, agriculture. We, too, can help the new sustainable culture spread. Ours, however, can take place more rapidly. The technology is at hand. Add the Internet, telephones, electronic or print publications and we can orchestrate solutions super-exponentially. In harmony with Nature, our new culture will beget economic stability, social justice, joy and peace.

Beyond recycling and good intentions, people don't know what to do or how to do it. That's where The Natural Step comes to the rescue. Through a consensus around first order principles, Blue Planet Prize recipient Dr. Karl-Henrik RobÃ¨rt and other leading scientists elaborated The Natural Step Framework and the System Conditions essential for a sustainable society. They relate to:

1. What we take from the Earth's crust (crude oil, gas, coal, uranium, mercury, cadmium, etc.)

2. What we make in society (PCBs, CFCs, and other persistent and unnatural compounds)

3. What we do to Nature (overharvested oceans, clear-cut forests, bombed ecosystems)

4. How we contribute to meeting human needs worldwide today and tomorrow (efficient, fair and responsible use of resources)

For motivation, we can coach our communities to align their decisions, planning and activities with these four conditions, which in turn will achieve a more peaceful world.

Experts and concerned citizens alike link the present hostilities in Iraq to oil. Oil (like the uranium of nuclear weapons) comes from the Earth's crust. How joyful would our world be if we let the sun pay the bills via renewable energy (solar, wind, etc.)?

With reference to System Condition Two: Without certain vested interests imposing toxic substances on diverse cultures and pushing for ever-increasing profits, how much more peaceful might our world be?

Were we in compliance with System Condition Three, would we heartlessly bomb the lands of Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere? Would genetically modified organisms be threatening the very preconditions of our lives?

Finally, if human needs were met worldwide, would there be any need for terrorism or war?

Speculative questions aside, we know that past approaches have failed. Rather than repeat what does not work, let's halt reverse evolution and take a stand for human dignity and the continuation of life on our planet. In our risky race against time, this Earth Day let's test all our human activities against the four System Conditions and raise the bar. A new sustainable culture of peace and prosperity that works for everyone is possible. Together, our spunk and higher social I.Q. can make it happen.

(This essay is adapted from Dr. Hudgens' book, COLLABORATIVE SPUNK: The Feisty Guide for Reviving People and Our Planet [Helena MT: SOS Press, 2002]. She is available for taped or live phone interviews and can be reached at [REDACTED-EMAIL] or [REDACTED-PHONE].)

A. Gayle Hudgens, Ph.D.

[REDACTED-EMAIL]

http://www.collaborativespunk.org

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