By Sabine

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature; he finds it attached to the rest of the world." - John Muir

As we all know, the green debate is gathering momentum fast and environmental issues are gaining more media coverage by the day.  The threat of global warming/climate change (and their negative effects) is now seen as real, dangerous and imminent, though unanimity amongst scientists has yet to be reached over this issue.  The acrimonious debate between climate change skeptics and the scientific “consensus” is fuelling much heated rhetoric and the conflicting messages we are bombarded with on a daily basis only add to the confusion.  Every natural catastrophe that now occurs seems to be associated in some way or other with climate change.  One may rightly wonder who the beneficiaries of this acceleration of alarmist media hype truly are and what are the self-serving profit motives behind their actions.   People need to be sensitized as to what is really happening; it is regrettable that the media’s language of fear and terror only serves to whip up “irrational social mass hysteria” unlikely to induce a change of attitude or a sense of universal moral responsibility.

It is easy to feel defeated in the face of such a threat as that of global warming and think that one’s efforts are in vain, either because they appear insignificant on the scale of things or because one feels that they are more than cancelled out by the careless way one lives one’s life the rest of the time and by the way others live theirs too.  One may think that there is no point for instance in taking the trouble to reduce one’s carbon footprint on the planet by cycling to work, insulating one’s home, reusing materials, composting vegetable waste, etc. when one’s neighbour drives around in a petrol-guzzling symbol-status 4X4, flies off to far-away exotic destinations several times a year and lives in a house lit up like a Christmas tree and equipped with the latest electronic gadgets.  Ethical cynics are always prompt at deriding the good intentions of those driving to the bottle bank to recycle one single jam jar but the very fact that someone is making an effort – small though it may be – to do something for the planet reveals the stirrings of an ecological consciousness, even if their efforts are presently misguided.  It is also convenient to feel complacent in our comfortable Western lives and pretend that all is well in the best possible world, obliterating the plight of others not so fortunate and that of our ailing planet from our minds and heart.

As human beings, we feel greatly misinformed as to what is really happening.  We are repeatedly told that our planet is in serious trouble and yet we carry on damaging it.  This is because we do not really understand how to bring this new awareness into our daily living.  The one sure thing is that, irrespective of whether the predicted ecological crisis is imputable to cyclical climate patterns or human activity, the way we live our lives cannot be sustained much longer. We have been living in the belief that everything is replenishable and that mother earth in her infinite kindness and love for us will always provide for us in times of need.  The brutal reality that certain natural resources are non-renewable and are nearing exhaustion has now dawned on us; by depleting mother earth of its very essence (vitality and strength), we are depleting ourselves of our very essence (vitality and strength).  It is true that every life form changes the context in which it is, but as human beings we have changed it to such an extent that it is our very existence and that of other life forms that is now at stake.  We are the ones who have upset the beautifully orchestrated ecological dance of our planet through careless living, cutting down forests, and poisoning the air, the water and the earth.  It is we, in our unprecedented egotism, who are paving the way for our own downfall whilst claiming to be the pinnacle of evolution. We have very conveniently chosen to forget that we are part of a very complex eco-system.  We are now witnessing the extinction of too many species and urgent measures must be taken to preserve our biodiversity which is the foundation of life. We can no longer live with the notion that nature only exists to serve us and that whatever we inflict upon it, it will always bounce back to a state of equilibrium.  We need guidance as to how we should behave towards one another and towards other life forms.  Man has been given the freedom to choose how to act and live; it is now evident that he has used his gift of free will and his ability to choose between good and evil in ways that do not support his own evolutionary process or that of life in general.  The fact that he has not always chosen wisely suggests that the code of ethics which he has adhered to needs to be revised to include a greater regard for non-human nature.   

Where man has gone wrong is in the thought process underlying his conduct and the beliefs and values underlying his thought process.  What is therefore urgently needed is a total conscious rethinking of the relationship between ourselves and nature and a reviewing of our beliefs, thoughts, values and feelings as well as the meaning of our life on earth.  The roots of the environmental problem are of a spiritual nature and only a spiritual remedy can be applied to it.  As we enter the third millennia, we need to embrace a new way of thinking that will protect and sustain human life as well as animal and plant life based on a deep respect and preservation of the earth resources.

Time has come for us to remember our spiritual nature and find our true purpose in this life.  One can no longer live solely for oneself at the exclusion of others.  The actions of one affect the whole.  The highly revered principles of ahimsa (non violence), reverence for life, solidarity and compassion must become the foundation-pillars of our life.  We must learn to live in a way that does not harm others; the goods we consume must not impoverish the rest of the world.  We must be willing to share what we have with others and cut down our excesses in all domains.  We must transcend the narrowness, pettiness and shallowness of our minds. “The essence of goodness is to maintain and cherish life, and the essence of evil is to destroy and damage life. All living beings have the will to live, and all living beings with the will to live are sacred, interrelated and of equal value. It is, therefore, an ethical imperative for us to respect and help all life forms.” – Albert Schweitzer (1923).

Time has come for us now to accept and understand that it is our diversity that makes the tapestry of life so intricately rich and that instead of being a ground for discord and separation, it should be a cause for celebration and unity.  The only viable way forward and the most pressing need of our times is to swear allegiance to nature by developing global connectedness and responsibility.  We have to overcome all our numerous differences and understand that what unites us is far greater than what divides us and that there is strength in diversity.  We all aspire to peace, harmony and a meaningful life.  Everything in nature points to a brotherhood of lives, to living in symbiosis.  Knowing our own connection with all that is enriches our perception that nothing is separate from anything else and that cosmic consciousness is omnipresent.

We now need to consider the different communities as a whole when making individual choices.  This means that our concern must extend beyond our very own community and nation to include all the other communities worldwide including that of the animal and plant kingdom – both for now and for the future generations.  “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Ecologists have been warning us for some time now that the technological advancement which has brought us economic growth and prosperity is also going to be our downfall. Power, control and efficiency which are prevalent values in our society encourage competition, individualism and consumerism.  We have wrongly come to believe ourselves masters of the universe and our unquenchable thirst for power has led us to a ruthless exploitation of nature, all for the sake of capitalism. There is no point in relying on the technology which has brought us where we are today to help us out for"The problems we create at this level of technology can not be solved at this level of technology." - Albert Einstein.  The environmental crisis is a global issue which cannot be dealt with by political, economic, legal or scientific methods alone.  Up until now our focus has solely been on developing and promoting the advancement of science and not on developing the inner self.  This is why many see the present ecological crisis as a consciousness crisis.  It is only through changing our attitude towards nature and establishing ethical values fostering the harmonious co-existence of all that is that we may have a chance of successfully addressing the environmental issues.  It appears therefore that the problems we are confronted with at our existing level of consciousness cannot be solved at this present level of consciousness.  And an increasing number of people worldwide are now waking up to the futility of the “money-god”, the hollowness of their lives and are manifesting a willingness to restrain their unsustainable rate of consumption, to relinquish many of the comforts and privileges secured on the oppression of others, and to reduce what is seen as “profitable efficiency”. 

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