by Gwen Colegrove
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
we hear Chicken Little proclaim every day.
What are WE to do?
It’s true, science tells us, that humanity is depleting the Earth’s resources faster than She can renew Herself. B U T. . . the Earth, and humanity with her, is on the brink of a new epoch. Old ways are no longer sustainable.
Systems are broken. A new epoch is emerging—we can hear the birth cries: “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
What will this new epoch be like? How can we prepare for it?
What is most needed is a new mind-set. Imagine a world where people live in harmony.
No more wars—the greatest destroyer of the Earth!
Where people are seen as images of the Creator, not as disposables to be worked as cheaply as possible.
No more dead-end jobs with low wages and little purpose!
Where life’s pursuit is Joy, not Money nor Power.
Things are not owned, but used as needed, then passed on.
The Air, the Water, and the Land are pure and free!
No one can own them, for they belong to All Creatures.
Three approaches for sustaining Earth are REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE.
All living matters recycles itself. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
Reuse what is already made. Extending the life-cycle of objects reduces what is taken from the Earth to make them.
But the greatest of these is Reduce.
If I speak of sustainability, but do not reduce my footprint on the Earth, it is mere babble.
If I know how to reduce, yet continue to acquire, I am a fool.
If I recycle all that I have, but do not reduce the amount I accumulate, I gain nothing toward simple living.
Live simply. Therein lies Life’s joy and Earth’s sustainability!
Live in harmony with Earth.
Take no more from Her than you need.
Do not exploit Her. Do not waste Her.
She sustains us, so WE must sustain Her.
— by Gwen Colegrove
NOTE: Much of the formatting and layout of the original print version was lost when posting it online.