Our Earth, Our Home

I’m sure that many of you, like me, feel your hearts breaking when you look at the above picture. Polar bears stranded on melting icebergs, unable to make it back to solid ice, who then starve to death. It’s a terrible reminder of just how far humans have strayed away from Nature, polluting and destroying the balance of the place that is supposed to be our home.

However, many people refuse to see what is in front of their very noses. Politicians and big-business leaders, plus a few sceptics, still insist that global warming is not actually happening, or if it is, it is not caused by humans. These people stand to lose a lot of money if green business practices become the law, or they are in office for too short a time to implement long-term environmental policies. Some are just ignorant. I had an engineer tell me that I was extremely presumptuous to think that anyone but God could actually have an effect on the world’s climate. This kind of ignorance and resistance is very worrying and still far too common all over the globe.

Luckily, as more people begin to work with energy, they are feeling a strong connection to Mother Earth, and realising that we have a sacred responsibility to care for our planet. There are many articles published on the Web or in newsletters, berating us for being a selfish race of humans, and warning us that the Earth will finally rebel against our ill treatment of her. This all sounds very ominous, and I think most of us would like to see a change, but the question is, how do you do it as one person? Articles like this make you feel worried, but helpless in the face of multi-million rand corporations and government leaders. And when you work it out, unplugging your cellphone charger or turning off your lights is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of electricity that one mine uses in a day.

Inform yourself. Sun Tzu, the Chinese war general and philosopher, said, “If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.” You don’t have to preach to everyone you see, but if someone makes a comment about not believing in “this whole global warming thing” you can refer them to international peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals, where scientists have actually gone out there and collected real data, not just sat on their butts and written an opinionated article on why the scientists are talking rubbish. And you will have a good understanding yourself of why slowing global warming is so necessary.

Even though it doesn’t make much of a difference when it’s just you, turn off your lights, recycle, buy organic or locally-grown produce, and don’t buy stuff for the sake of it. The minerals and metals that go into cellphones are causing wars in Africa, so if your phone is still working fine, don’t buy a new one just to be fashionable. Sometimes, what we do isn’t much, but it’s all we can do. And if we all do it, it will make a difference.

Let the environmental policies of political parties and corporations influence your decision on whether to support them. Money makes the world go round, and if a business finds it is losing clients because they are causing a lot of pollution, they will probably make a change. Remember, that may mean you won’t always be able to buy exactly what you want. Fortunately, some big businesses and government are starting to play ball. Although the power cuts wrecked havoc in the lives of South Africans, Eskom has now realised that green energy is the way to go, and implemented a financial assistance program to get solar panels installed

So there are things we can do, although they are not always easy. But if you do them, you immediately start feeling like a kinder, more generous and honourable person. When you help the Earth, you’re also helping every single one of the billions of life forms on it, including the entire human race. What better way to accumulate good karma?