Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned
and the last fish has been caught,
will we realize that we can’t eat money.
— Native American Cree proverb
Why do we tend to value people, places and things more when we are at risk of losing them? That is true of our quality of life – the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. When there is plenty, we’re less likely to appreciate and care for what we have, taking for granted the abundance of our natural resources until we realize that they are not only limited but being depleted or contaminated every day.
Why does it take a major catastrophe to wake us up to the damage that we are causing to our environment, to our irreplaceable planet? And then, why are we shocked when we see the rivers drying up, the dead fish encased in oil or subjected to red tide on our shores, the dark brown clouds on the horizon, the increasing floods and fires, or the birds falling from the sky?
While we may be aware of the negative impact that we’ve had on the Earth – air and water pollution, deforestation, animal extinction, etc. – will it take being on the brink of irreversible ecological disaster to prompt us to action?
It’s not too late to change our fate. Each thing that we do now is critically more important, especially when multiplied by the billions of people sharing this planet. Our stay is temporary. How can we be GOOD GUESTS of the PLANET? Perhaps asking ourselves: Am I fully valuing the gift of living here, taking care of the earth and its resources as best I can? Am I taking no more than I need or more than I can give back? Am I being respectful to its other inhabitants and sharing resources equitably?
We can make a positive difference.
Our decisions to recycle, to not overuse water, to drive fuel efficient or electric vehicles, 
to limit the use of plastics (i.e. bags, balloons, straws, etc.) that contaminate our environment and kill land and sea life, to hold corporations who pollute accountable, to vote for the politicians and support the people and organizations who are leading the way in environmental consciousness and actions are all acts of kindness, not only to the planet and its current inhabitants, but to future generations as well.
We can be better guests of our planet. Take action now to preserve what we have and to prevent further depletion of our natural resources. It will have a positive impact on the future of our Planet Earth. Please share this message with other friends, family, neighbors, colleagues . . .
Let’s be kind to our shared home. It may be our ultimate act of kindness to each other and to ourselves.
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In what ways do you consider yourself a good guest of the planet?
One Sarasota woman is making a difference by crocheting mats out of plastic grocery bags and delivering them to the homeless. You can learn how she does it and even learn how to make your own mats by following Michele Penn on Facebook.
- What is one thing that you can do now to have a positive impact on our planet?
- What are some of the best ways that you’ve found to support our environment?
Please share below.
Although I have lived most of my adult life in Colorado and was conscious of ways to protect the environment, now that I am in Florida, experiencing the red tide and escalating temperatures, it is increasingly clear that we all need to do something to ensure the quality of our air, land, and water for the future of our planet.
While writing this article, I realized that I could definitely step up my commitment.
I have started by taking these simple first steps and chosen to:
1. Make a donation to Green Peace, an organization that is focused on protecting our environment.
2. Support the efforts of Michele Penn, a local Sarasota woman who is making plarn (plastic yarn) out of plastic grocery bags to create mats for homeless people. You can go to her Facebook page to learn more: https://www.facebook.com/BagstoBeds1333/
3. Research the political candidates to find out who will make the environment a top priority and to support them in the general election.
4. Begin the process of replacing my plastic bottles with a better alternative.
5. Continue to treat water as the precious resource that it is by limiting my use of it.
6. Recycle as much as I can to keep things from becoming trash.
Amazing blog Linda!!! And amazing comment. YOU are such an inspiration to all of us!!! Thank you for all you are doing to help our environment!! I love that you listed everything! You are empowering me to do even more! Thank you for adding my Bags to Beds page link so everyone can contribute to saving the environment!! Your support is much appreciated!!!! Peace and love! Michele Penn
Michele, It is wonderful that we can inspire each other to do more for our environment. The wonderful work that you are doing makes me want to do even more to create a better world. Thank you so much! Linda
Thank you for writing this, Linda. Protecting our earth is critically important, it is beautiful, so interesting, and it sustains our lives. It is a gift of great abundance, from the minerals in the earth, various type of water features, incredible vegetation, animal and human life, and gorgeous clouds. We breathe it’s air. The earth is a wondrous creation. We need to respect, appreciate, and revere all these gifts, not only for ourselves, but for generations of beloved people to come.
I agree with you Chris. Thank you for sharing what things you most appreciate about living on this planet and your desire to take care of it for future generations. I appreciate your philosophy. Linda
Hi Linda, Thank you for the thoughtful article about being kind to our environment and the planet. As we continue to be more mindful of our own footprint, our own impact, our own voice, we will begin to move in the right direction. Most recently, I have been consciously turning off the water as I wash the dishes, my hands, or brush my teeth. So simple, yet so important! Also, if we forget our reusable bags at the store, we carry what we buy out to the car instead of saying yes to plastic!! Have a wonderful day! Mary
Good ideas Mary. I have been conscious of excess water use for a long time…especially when I lived in Colorado and used to haul my water up to my home from a local spring source. And living in Boulder, where they charged 10 cents per bag if you did not have your own helped to make most of us more aware of the waste. I will confess that I could be better about plastic grocery bags….although I do reuse and reuse them and then recycle them. But I like your idea even better….don’t get them in the first place. Thank you!
We don’t need to line every waste basket in our homes and garages with plastic bags. If you still think you need to line them use paper. I grew up before plastic and we did just fine emptying our unlined waste baskets into our unlined trash cans and still do it today. Blessings.
It is great to hear from you Ed. Thank you for sharing a good idea of keeping plastic bags out of our dumps….especially now that China no longer wishes to buy our trash. We need to be even more vigilant of what we are discarding that is having a negative impact on our environment. I appreciate what you are doing.
What a beautiful perspective, our simple acts of protecting our planet may actually be an ultimate act of kindness to each ohter and ourselves. As you know, I feel that making very conscious decisions around who we put in office is critically important to protect not only mother earth but her people as well. Took awhile but I’ve done my homework and I’m ready to vote. I’ve been saving glass kombucha bottles and have many if you’d like some. A friend recently mentioned that she has been flushing the contents of her poop bags rahter than adding them to the trash. I plan to do the same.
Thank you Kim for all of the things that you do to make this a better place to live. I will look forward to working with you in the near future to ensure that we elect enlightened leaders for our government here in Florida, where the environment is at such risk. I appreciate you and all that you do to make good choices for a high quality of life and living and how generous you are to share it with your friends and neighbors. You are an inspiration to me. Linda
Hi, Linda,
Thanks so much for your article! I do a bunch to help the planet (recycle, use cloth bags at the store, etc., etc.), but the biggest way I’ve found to have a positive impact on our planet is to go vegan (since 1993, vegetarian since 87). This is because being vegan drastically impacts the planet’s health in so many ways.
The top scientists say that climate change is the biggest threat to life as we know it — even more than nuclear war.
“It’s our changing climate that is leading to more severe and destructive fires” ~ Daniel Berlant, Ass Deputy Director, Cal Fire.
Climate change contributes to red tide, and to the “monster” hurricanes we’re now experiencing.
(The last three decades have seen consistently higher sea surface temperatures than at any other time since 1880, when reliable observations started, the Environmental Protection Agency says. On land, last year was the warmest non-El Niño year ever recorded, according to NOAA. “This is how global warming will play out,” the researchers said. Heat records will become “easier to break” and people will see the mounting effects of climate change.. (The last three decades have seen consistently higher sea surface temperatures than at any other time since 1880, when reliable observations started, the Environmental Protection Agency says. On land, last year was the warmest non-El Niño year ever recorded, according to NOAA. “This is how global warming will play out,” the researchers said. Heat records will become “easier to break” and people will see the mounting effects of climate change.
“If you put everything together — wildfire explosions on the West coast and the increases in air temperatures, combined with rising seawater temperature — it’s telling us a story,” says Anderson. “We need to respond to that story.”) And if the oceans die, we die. Simple as that. With us creating climate change, with us creating monster red tides and (over-fishing, which is also) killing our oceans…we are killing ourselves. ”
And according to the United Nations, the #1 contributor to climate change, more than all forms of transportation combined, is livestock production. (The documentary, Cowspiracy, which is free on Netflix and at most libraries, goes into this in detail.) Livestock production is also the #1 polluter of air, land, and water; the #1 destroyer of rain-forests, the #1 waster of fresh water resources, and I could go on.
Being vegan is also me being kind to myself. Documentaries like Forks Over Knives (free on Netflix and at most libraries), and the places with the highest cure rates for catastrophic conditions (places like the Gerson Institute, the Hippocrates Institute; conditions like heart disease — our #1 killers — which are stopped and reversed by whole-foods, low-fat, plant-based diets — and when these places put people on raw, vegan diets, miracles happen with their health…) give more details.
It’s also kind to the animals, who are raised and die in horrific and terrifying conditions in the livestock industry. Documentaries like Earthlings (free on You-Tube) show is this.
It’s also kind to other humans for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that if we fed the grains used to feed animals who will be killed for meat to starving humans instead (even just a small percentage), no one would die of starvation — or watch their children die of starvation. Slaughterhouse workers are among the worst-treated employees. Many are illegal immigrants, and the meat and dairy industries regularly do surprise sweeps of their workers, deporting parents when children are left at home. The meat and dairy industry also murders indigenous people in the rain forests so it can use the land for grazing.
I could go on and on. Anyway, veganism is definitely the thing I do with the biggest kindness impact for our planet, animals, myself, and other humans.
Thank you Gabrielle, for your very thorough assessment of the negative impact we are having on our environment and the numerous things that we can do to ensure a healthy future for all of us. I appreciate your kind, thoughtful and committed contribution.
Keeping my recycle bags in the car so I don’t forget them, also keeping a thermos always filled with water in the car so I’m not tempted to buy a plastic bottle of water. I keep gloves and a large garbage bag also in the car to pick up trash when I find it scattered somewhere. My #1 priority of voting is always the environment. Nothing else really matters if we don’t have clean air and water and sanity.
Thank you for the great work you do Linda by bringing this topic to the forefront and relating it to the ultimate way of being kind. Big hugs of gratitude!
Thank you Tahja for sharing some good ideas of how to help the environment. In fact, today I brought a handled bag of my own to Publix and didn’t need a single one of their plastic bags. 🙂
I appreciate you and all that you do.
Hugs, Linda
Beautifully written and heartfelt Linda!
I love how you express exactly what I feel and know in my heart to be true.
How do we live more conscious of this incredible earth.
Staying awake is a moment to moment choice.
Thank you for choosing to be on the planet to touch this world with your currency that is filled to the brim with love.
Love You
Frannie
Namaste
Thank you, Frannie for your kind message.
I so appreciate you and the beautiful way that you bring joy, love and a sense of peace
to all whom you meet.
You always are an inspiration to me.
Love, Linda