Comments on: A Letter On Earth Observation And Global Awareness

By: Howard Ross

Howard Ross — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:46:44 +0000

Paul,

Thank you for this beautifully written reminder that our own consciousness is only available to us when we are willing to observe ourselves and that the same is true for our collective “self” and the planet.

Please keep writing!

By: Lynne Slater

Lynne Slater — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:31:03 +0000

Paul
What a wonderful dialogue you’ve started–such a unique and valuable perspective. I was thinking the other day about perspective: some of the citizens of Montgomery County were complaining about PEPCO – the slow response following the storms and apparently some intermittent power outages they have been experiencing. I can understand how that is frustrating and improvement is needed. However, when one speaker compared their situation to living in third world country, my hackles went up. Visually, I saw the tent and tarp city in front of the presidential palace in Port au Prince, refugee camps in Sudan, and the devastation following a flood I lived through in the mid-west. In this country we have the infrastructure to recover our standard of living so quickly – and our baseline is so extreme in comparison with the much of the world. What does this disparity and our blindness to it mean to our future sustainability?

By: Elise Mulder

Elise Mulder — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:02:28 +0000

Mr. Racette,
You offer a passionately stated reminder that by retaining a sense of responsibility for our planet, asking questions, and sharing knowledge we can help to mitigate negative environmental impacts. Sharing knowledge especially is crucial in empowering people to take action. I believe that one reason many people are unwilling to admit the degree to which humans are capable of changing our planet is that they are overwhelmed. Although individual actions are indeed important, acting alone can seem insufficient and insignificant. By reaching out to one another for ideas, we can find the reassurance and help that we need to be effective stewards in our individual lives.

By: Daniel Ziskin

Daniel Ziskin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:32:03 +0000

I greatly appreciated these sentiments and wonderfully poetic language. It is important to give MEANING to what we do, and the glorification of life itself is as good a reason as any I’ve heard so far.

The essay asks, “How do we as the human species move forward in a way in which Life may prosper?”

Certainly, building a vast interconnected database of Earth observations is one way. A far simpler and more immediate way exists that will take us a giant step forward. Namely, we must end the horrific practice of factory farming of animals.

If we really hold that life is sacred and we are interconnected to all living beings, the cruel ways in which we treat other sentient beings to satisfy our appetites for meat make a mockery of those ideals.

Remember that nearly every dollar spent on meat brings us further from our goal of universal reverence for LIFE.

By: Beth Racette

Beth Racette — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:55:30 +0000

Beautifully said Paul. I especially like your emphasis on understanding our interdependence. We mistakenly think of our human selves as autonomous beings -– through observation we can see some of the ways that we are dependent on each other and other creatures. Biological science now knows that humans are like walking spaceships of microorganisms ~500 different types of benevolent microbes symbiotically live in each human body.
SO HOW do we learn to care for all humans and all species? When you said “all of our unique perspectives are important” it made me think that yes, the awareness of each individual, each culture and each species brings a part of the intricate puzzle to our collective knowledge of life on this beautiful planet earth – and to OBSERVE, look and listen with respect and learn from all the variety of life forms; including ALL humans – of all economic backgrounds, nationalities, ethnicities, ages, spiritual traditions, genders etc. Your comments also reminded me to be courageous (root of the word courage means “with heart”) and speak the truth of my observations. This is important for everybody to do. In many ways we are taught to be silent. Collectively we need everyone’s intelligence engaged. And we need to learn to see and listen to each other, and see and listen to other species.
I see you! I hear you! Did I hear you correctly? I’m so glad we’re living on the same planet!