…we have irresponsibly destroyed, now we must urgently regenerate
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Posted on February 7, 2008
Filed Under Global warming/Climate change, Deep ecology, Ecological hope, Earth spirituality, Inspiration and reflection
Fostering Ecological Hope
Today from Margaret Swedish:
A year ago I gave one of my posts to a voice from Brazil, the earth-loving liberation theologian Leonardo Boff. I shared then a reflection of his from the Amazon forest. This time I want to share something sent to me by a friend a few weeks ago. It is a moving reflection by Boff on the new burgeoning Earth consciousness, our human species awareness of home, that is part of this new moment in evolution on our planet. It is about the wonder of what we have discovered — and the horror of the damage we are doing.
As Boff writes, this new awareness began with the images of the Earth from outer space back in the 1960s as humans left the planet for the first time. 
That new astounding view of Earth floating in the darkness of space, combined with our new knowledge of the vastness of the universe, our place within it on this tiny planet, has spawned a new spirituality rising everywhere, one that just might save us.
Boff is a member of the International Earth Charter Commission. To find out more about the Earth Charter initiative, or about the US Earth Charter work, visit the links here. Meanwhile, here is the link to Boff’s website.
Principle Earth
Leonardo Boff, Theologian
Earthcharter Commission
________________________________________
Never has there been so much talk about the Earth as in recent years. It is as if the Earth had just been discovered. Human beings have made many discoveries: indigenous nations hidden in remote jungles, new beings of nature, distant lands and whole continents. But the Earth, herself, was never the object of discovery. We had to go beyond the Earth, and see her from afar, before we were able to discover her as Earth, and our Common Home.
That began in the ’60s with the space flights. The astronauts revealed to us images never before seen. They used moving expressions, such as «the Earth looks like a Christmas tree hung on the blue canvass of the universe», «she is very beautiful, shining, blue and white», «she fits in the palm of my hand and I can cover her with my thumb.» Others had feelings of veneration and gratitude; and prayed. All returned with a renewed love for the good old Earth, Our Mother.
These images of the terrestrial globe seen from space, broadcast daily by television stations from all over the world, elicit in us a feeling of sacredness and are creating a new state of consciousness. From the astronauts’ perspective, from the cosmos, Earth and Humanity form a single entity. We not only live on Earth, we are the Earth herself, which feels, thinks, loves, dreams, venerates and cares.
But a grave threat has been proclaimed lately, befalling the totality of our Earth. Data published from February 2nd to November 17, 2007, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organ of the UN, together with the recent impasses of Bali, show us that we have already entered the phase of global warming that brings abrupt and irreversible changes. The warming can vary from 1.4 to 6 degrees centigrade, depending on the region of the Earth. 
The climate changes are anthropic in their origins, this is to say, their main cause is the human being that has given life to a savage industrial process. 
If nothing is done, we will confront the worst possibilities, and millions of human beings will vanish from the planet.
Since we have irresponsibly destroyed, now we must urgently regenerate. The salvation of the Earth will not come from heaven. It will be the fruit of a new co-responsibility and of renewed care by the whole human family.
Given this new situation, the Earth has in fact become the obscure and pricipal object of human love and care. It is not the physical center of the universe as ancient people thought, but it has become of late the affective center of humanity. We only have this planet. From here we gaze out at the whole universe. Here we work, we love, we cry, we hope, we dream, and we venerate. 
Starting from the Earth, we make the great voyage to the great beyond.
We are slowly discovering the supreme importance of securing the survival of planet Earth and guaranteeing the ecological and spiritual conditions for the fulfillment of the human species and perpetuation of the community of life.
It is because of this new consciousness that we speak of the principle-Earth. It is the cornerstone of a new radicalism. All knowledge, every institution, all religions and every person must think about this question: What can I do to preserve the common motherland and guarantee her future, given that she has been under construction for 4,300 million years and deserves to continue in existence?
Because we are Earth, for us there will be no heaven without Earth.
01-11-2008
Free translation from the Spanish by
contacto@servicioskoinonia.org,
sent by Melina Alfaro, done at
REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas
Technorati Tags: leonardo boff, earth charter, earth is home, industrial pollution, earth regeneration
Photo credits:
NASA, Apollo 8, Earthrise
Industrial pollution, BBC
Raw sewage pours into Chesapeak Bay, Chesapeake Bay Foundation: Saving a Nationalk Treasure
Hubble Space Telescope, spiral galaxy M74
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3 Responses to “…we have irresponsibly destroyed, now we must urgently regenerate”
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I’m tired of how many of us don’t give a darn about how our population numbers are overpopulating our earth, and having impact on climate change. Read my recent post on http://peoplepowergranny.blogspot.com, and tell me what size you think families should be today.
Well, I don’t put myself in the position of deciding how many children people should have. What I hope is that people make responsible decisions given the stresses on the planet.
Interestingly, we white western affluent folks are doing pretty well in terms of slowing our population growth rate (which is why some racist types are encouraging white people to have more babies, an ugly side of this conversation). Population is growing among the poor populations of the planet, which is why social justice is a moral requirement for dealing with the Earth’s carrying capacity.
Poor people have a right not to be poor, which is why rich people will have to ratchet down their lifestyles and consumption drastically in order for poor people to raise their standard of living to something resembling dignity, and to do that within the means of the Earth and the balance of its ecosystems.
As for population growth, one of the most proven methods for reducing growth rate is through education of women, the reduction or elimination of poverty, and the availability of reproductive services. These factors combined actually lower birth rates very quickly. When women have actual choices, it’s amazing what happens.
Margaret
Dear People Power Granny,
What would you think of the development and implementation of a humane, universal, voluntary “one child per family” policy?
Steve
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population, established 2001