“In regard to cruelties committed in the name of a free society,
some are guilty while all are responsible.” — Rabbi Abraham Heschel
some are guilty while all are responsible.” — Rabbi Abraham Heschel
What Have We Done
In case you haven’t noticed, Mother Earth’s not faring so well these days thanks to our species. Our planet and every life form on it is in a crisis of potentially fatal proportions and we, each of us, must take the reins and turn it around in the next few years or there’s not going to be a tomorrow for your children or grandchildren. In order to do that, we must change fundamentally the way we think, speak and act. We must change from within, before we can ever hope to bring about on the outside. Because ultimately Mother Earth will continue down her own path, only we won’t be around to see it. She will flick us off like the parasites we are.
In November of 1992, 1,700 of our world’s leading scientists, including every living nobel laureate in the sciences, signed a warning to the world saying life on earth was running out of time. Written as an open warning to world governments, the paper was written and spearheaded by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Chair Henry Kendall. The opening paragraph read:
"Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about."
The report went on to say the much of the damage was irreversible and that our massive tampering with the world's interdependent web of life—coupled with the environmental damage inflicted by deforestation, species loss, and climate change—could trigger widespread adverse effects, including unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand.
"The earth is finite. Its ability to absorb wastes and destructive effluent is finite. Its ability to provide food and energy is finite. Its ability to provide for growing numbers of people is finite. And we are fast approaching many of the earth's limits."
This warning from concerned citizens and scientists said that the rate at which we were destroying our environment was rapidly reaching critical mass then, and if we had any chance to recover we had to act quickly. Well, that was eighteen years ago and little has changed for the better—so much for listening to our experts.
Above the signatures, the report ended with:
"A new ethic is required—a new attitude towards discharging our responsibility for caring for ourselves and for the earth. We must recognize the earth's limited capacity to provide for us. We must recognize its fragility. We must no longer allow it to be ravaged. This ethic must motivate a great movement, convince reluctant leaders and reluctant governments and reluctant peoples themselves to effect the needed changes."
Since then, countless books have been written on the subject, speeches have been made, and weighty articles printed in probably every magazine and newspaper known to man, yet still we continue our same path toward destruction. The powers-that-be have counted on and manipulated our perceived helplessness to keep us on a course of maximum benefit to them and no one else. Evidently, we agree. Our silence drips with disgrace.
In November of 1992, 1,700 of our world’s leading scientists, including every living nobel laureate in the sciences, signed a warning to the world saying life on earth was running out of time. Written as an open warning to world governments, the paper was written and spearheaded by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Chair Henry Kendall. The opening paragraph read:
"Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about."
The report went on to say the much of the damage was irreversible and that our massive tampering with the world's interdependent web of life—coupled with the environmental damage inflicted by deforestation, species loss, and climate change—could trigger widespread adverse effects, including unpredictable collapses of critical biological systems whose interactions and dynamics we only imperfectly understand.
"The earth is finite. Its ability to absorb wastes and destructive effluent is finite. Its ability to provide food and energy is finite. Its ability to provide for growing numbers of people is finite. And we are fast approaching many of the earth's limits."
This warning from concerned citizens and scientists said that the rate at which we were destroying our environment was rapidly reaching critical mass then, and if we had any chance to recover we had to act quickly. Well, that was eighteen years ago and little has changed for the better—so much for listening to our experts.
Above the signatures, the report ended with:
"A new ethic is required—a new attitude towards discharging our responsibility for caring for ourselves and for the earth. We must recognize the earth's limited capacity to provide for us. We must recognize its fragility. We must no longer allow it to be ravaged. This ethic must motivate a great movement, convince reluctant leaders and reluctant governments and reluctant peoples themselves to effect the needed changes."
Since then, countless books have been written on the subject, speeches have been made, and weighty articles printed in probably every magazine and newspaper known to man, yet still we continue our same path toward destruction. The powers-that-be have counted on and manipulated our perceived helplessness to keep us on a course of maximum benefit to them and no one else. Evidently, we agree. Our silence drips with disgrace.