Because I Love Earth

 I recently had two interesting experiences engaging with people concerning the environment and both made me think about how the way we use language impacts how we act in the world.

 In the first instance I had reason to call the Department of Forests, Fish and Wildlife and upon doing so was directed to an automated call response giving me a number of options to choose from. One of which was to press a certain number if I was calling regarding nuisance animals. The term nuisance animals caught my attention. “I wonder what they are referring to.” I thought aloud to my children after I hung up the phone. My kids and I had a disturbed chuckle—“Nuisance animals” we all wondered “is this the hotline number for the seven plus billion homo sapiens whose habits and lifestyles are grossly impacting planet earth at an unprecedented rate-- or is it referring to the occasional raccoon who might visit those black and green bins whose covers have not been bungee corded closed or crows who take aim at car windshields and caw at inconvenient times?“ 

 And how much of a stretch is it then to consider other people as nuisance people, or other cultures as nuisance cultures? We see elements of this playing out across the world stage with the ego-maniacal US presidential candidate Donald Trump sharing his unfortunate worldview and the unwieldy power his language utilization bears on US citizens.

 The current state of the world we live in has come about in no small part due to our utilizing language in the ways we do. How we collectively think and act regarding the natural world is rooted in large part in the worldview that humans are the most intelligent and enlightened species of the animal kingdom and therefore of greater import. It also carries the notion that humans are the species to whom Earth’s varied and tremendous riches have been entrusted. Sounds rather arrogant when put this way but it is a worldview held by a great many people the world over. This worldview has caused many of us to believe that we are responsible to none other than ourselves and that Earth is here for our taking. In actuality, we are only one of a vast multitude of species who have a shared and deeply nuanced, temporary occupation of this planet we all call home. The lofty view of ourselves as above other animals has allowed us to continue to operate under thought and cultural value systems that see us as somehow removed from the natural world. We bend and bow to the demands of a powerfully entrenched consumer culture. Business and economics take precedence over the well being of the air, soil and waters upon which life forms ultimately depend for their survival—the human species included. And to what end?

 The folly with which we have proceeded over the past two hundred plus years since the industrial revolution saw the mechanization of labour and mass production of goods has caused the undesirable effect of interrupting the balance of life support systems in nature thereby causing the demise of millions of other unspoken life forms along with it. We have been taught to seek our happiness through mass consumption of products and lifestyles dependent on imported, assembly line goods. Our worth is tied closely to our ability to consume. We reinforce this with celebrations fueled and dependent upon our shopping habits. Many people unquestioningly believe that we have improved our lot—rising GDP, rising life expectancy, but with this too has come rising sea levels and a warming planet, large scale destruction of long established areas of incredible biodiversity such as rain forests and coral reefs and the rapid growth of human poverty and a deepening sense of dis-connection and dis-ease.

 Another recent encounter had me quite troubled by the language used when a relatively small area of wet land supporting cattails, spring peepers and a variety of other wetland species was referred to as“inconsequential” in terms of biological significance. Do the spring peepers feel inconsequential when they sing their little hearts out each spring or do they simply feel alive like the rest of us?

  Who knows? The short answer is that the language used in both instances is representative of a mindset which upholds the norm that humans have the right to decide the fate of the natural world. Imagine if we applied the precautionary principle towards land development? Would biodiversity be more respected? Would we only develop what we truly need?

 In the web of life, nothing, and I mean NOTHING is inconsequential. The supreme hubris of humankind combined with a glaring lack of awareness of the inter-connectedness of all things has led to everything from whales washing ashore with stomachs full of car parts and plastic as well as a dearth of human health problems from overuse of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals to a food system which has swung so far from wholesome, local and in season that we forget how our ancestors ate. The sad tale is a long one. Every choice we make in our patterns of consumption at the grocery store, market, at the block store, drug store, hardware store, craft store, furniture, and toy and clothing stores has an effect on everything. Every single product we use in our daily lives came from somewhere and is going somewhere. There is no magical away for the toxins we utilize. They bio-accumulate in our bodies, and contaminate the soil, air and waters of the earth.

The good news is that Earth is an incredibly resilient planet and given time can heal the wounds we have inflicted upon it. But the timeline to heal may be a very long one and far, far too much diversity of life may continue to be lost in the interim. It is high time we reconsider what we truly require for a happy and meaningful life and consider the ways that our current lifestyles are negatively impacting the natural world. The beauty of nature whispers to us. Our job is to become better and more responsive listeners.

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Postdoc Blues

True joyfulness cannot be commodifed. 
Caring is free and urgently needed.
Mindfulness is a powerful action towards creating change with ease.

In hope,

Jill