The first principle of Planetary Philosophy is One Planet. We all need to realize that we are One Planet.
Each human being has a body that is made of the Earth. We are made up of the elements of the Earth. We are not something outside of the Earth. Our bones, our blood, our muscles, all of our cells are composed of portions of the Earth. These elements from the Earth are still part of the Earth even as they are composing our bodies.
We Are Part of the Earth and the Earth Is Part of Us
Where is the boundary between our little portion of the Earth that is our body and the rest of the Earth? We are continually breathing in air from the Earth and breathing out air into the Earth. We are continually eating and drinking parts of the Earth and then giving back feces and urine to the Earth. We are continually seeing and hearing and smelling and tasting and touching parts of the Earth and we are continually taking actions that affect the Earth, picking something up, opening a door, digging in a garden, or driving a car.
There is no place where it is possible to draw a line and say that is where I begin and the Earth stops – that is where the Earth begins and I stop. Intellectually, we know this is true. According to relativity physics, we know that everything is connected and an action any place affects every place, at least a little bit. Also, according to ecology, any action affects the whole ecology, at least a little bit. And, it is certainly clear that the Earth is one ecology.
So, we are a part of the Earth and the Earth is a part of us. What we experience is something that the Earth is experiencing. Our experience is the Earth experiencing other aspects of itself. Each of us lives a life that is one strand woven together to form the fabric made up of all of the strands of all of the lives of everything alive on Earth.
What We Do to the Earth We Do to Ourselves
We cannot, we must not deny that everything that we do to the Earth we do to ourselves. Everything that everyone does to the Earth they do to us. If we humans disrupt the very narrow and very fragile tolerances that permit human life on Earth, then the result will be that the part of the Earth that is humanity will cease to exist. If we disrupt the narrow and fragile tolerances that permit organic life on Earth, then the result will be that the part of the Earth that is organic life will cease to exist.
And humans now certainly are forces for disruption. Climate change, massive pollution, forest destruction, and species extinction are all symptoms of this disruption. It is almost as if we are at war with the Earth, which means we are at war with ourselves.
What we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves. There is no separation. We need to make peace with the planet. Let’s call this aspect of Planetary Philosophy the principle of “One Planet.”
The second aspect of Planetary Philosophy the principle of “One People.”
