In 1992, some 1,700 of the world’s leading scientists, including the majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences, issued an appeal to humanity. It began with this:
“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.”
Curious to note here is what the scientists maintain as being what is in danger: human society, animal kingdoms, and the ability to sustain life in the manner that we know. No where in the letter’s totality does it imply that Earth itself is in danger of not carrying on, but rather those who call it home and depend on its sustained existence in its current inhabitable state.
On April 22, an annual event is celebrated on a day in which events all over the world are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection and sustainability. It is aptly called Earth Day. First celebrated officially in 1970, the event is now coordinated around the world by the Earth Day Network. It is celebrated in over 190 countries world wide and is the single largest secular holiday on record to date.
Ever the cynic and an amateur wordsmith at best, I am compelled to invoke the assertion that under the premise of words having an exact meaning, perhaps the name of this important day of reflection, observation, and call to action, might be missing the point.
A few decades and a lifetime ago, I was backpacking in the Colorado Rockies with a friend. We were ascending a steep slope section of a mountain, working our way back and forth on narrow switchbacks. Upon making a 180 degree turn on one of the many cutbacks, I would round the corner close to its inside and at one point my partner called out to me, “Hey bro, stay on the high side of the trail please.”
“Excuse me?” I said.
He went on to explain that we could leave less of a trace and lighten our impact on the trail by walking on the high side thus somewhat minimizing how much trail debris we sent down the slope.
I distinctly remember thinking: “Listen you granola eating, self righteous, tree hugging, lib-tard. Earth is going to carry on long after we are gone. And I mean all of us. All of humanity. I highly doubt the debris we kick loose on this trail will make a difference in that.”
He was gracious as he acquiesced the seemingly simplistic absurdity of it. He also concurred, that in fact no, our actions in geological time made little difference to the Earth as a whole. But they did, however, make a difference to those who would venture shortly after us over the coming days, weeks, and even years, upon that very trail and that we had a moral obligation to do as much as we could to keep that experience for them.
Every year when Earth Day draws close, I think of that conversation and the paradigm shift that occurred within my then, somewhat man’s dominion-trumps-all mindset. How for the first time I understood the environmental ethic not from the mindset of saving the Earth, but of sustaining life for us who live on it. Live in it. Live within it.
Should we not be compelled to call it Humanity Day? Or perhaps, Sustain Life Day? Protect and Sustain Life Day?
Yeah, Earth Day it is then.
And on that day, may we be indelibly impressed to perhaps make everyday one where we are mindful of the decisions we make in the namesake of lifestyle that impact for generations to come, life itself.
See you out there.
Dallas Hyland is a freelance writer, award-winning photographer, and documentary filmmaker with three films currently under his belt. The opinion editor of The Independent, Hyland’s investigative journalism and opinion columns have ranged in topics from local political and environmental issues, to drug trafficking in Utah, as well as the international front, covering issues such as human trafficking in Colombia. On his rare off-days, he can be found with his family and friends exploring the pristine outdoors. Listen to him live as a regular guest co-host on the Perspectives talk show on Fox News 1450 AM 93.1 FM in southern Utah.
