Being Kind to the Earth
“Be kind to the planet” is a phrase we see bandied about more and more; in articles and social media, by activists and celebrities, on tote bags and bumper stickers. It is something which so many of us try to do, in much the same we try to be kind to friends, neighbours and (I hope) ourselves. This is an attitude we need to cultivate; a personification of our world, so that we can truly begin to extend to the planet the compassion we extend to our fellow human beings.
Nonetheless, is this attitude possible? Can individuals, societies and governments recognise the Earth as a living being which likewise needs care, attention and laws to prevent its maltreatment? Bolivia and Ecuador are leading examples of such a recognition. In 2008, Ecuador’s Constitution adopted the concept of buen vivir, which strives to build a balanced coexistence between humans and nature. In 2011, Bolivia followed the same philosophy and implemented the world’s first national-level legislation to grant rights to the natural world: the Law of Mother Nature. Both legislations draw from indigenous culture and reject the capitalist ideal of economic growth and development; instead seeking harmony between humans and the natural world. In these cultures, community encompasses both the human and the non-human, and so being kind to nature is more engrained into people’s behaviour.
However, in the Western World we seem detached from the planet – which is easily done when we have not been raised with the same spiritual and cultural connections. Nonetheless, perhaps it is our duty – and particular that of the government and large corporations – to create that connection. In 2019, Ferris Jabr wrote a beautiful article for the New York Times outlining why the planet “is just as alive as you are”. He describes Dr James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis of the 1970s which suggests that all living and non-living organisms together create one synergistic system.
The Gaia philosophy echoes Latin’s America’s buen vivir as it stresses a harmony between people and planet, and recognises that we are infinitely intertwined. From this, Jabr encourages his reader to consider the ways in which the planet is alive by outlining how the Earth undertakes millions of ‘living’ processes each day. He asks “If Earth breathes, sweats and quakes – if it births zillions of organisms that ceaselessly devour, transfigure and replenish its air, water and rock – and if those creatures and their physical environments evolve in tandem, then why shouldn’t we think of our planet as alive?”
From this idea, Jabr stresses the importance of ecological balance. He describes that in our hazardous treatment of the planet we have not simply adjusted the climate, but “critically wounded a global life form and severely disrupted its biological rhythms.” We, as the brain of the Earth, are the only ones who can purposely regain the planet’s balance. Jabr ends with a quote from Dr Lovelock: “We are a part of the Earth and we cannot therefore consider our affairs in isolation. We are so tied to the Earth that its chills and fevers are our chills and fevers also.”
It is hard to imagine the world as living, and with so many causes and people to whom we must bestow kindness, giving it to the Earth seems perhaps a task for later, once we have tackled poverty, wars and diseases. However, already we are seeing how humans’ environmental impacts are circling back to harm ourselves, and countries in the Global South are the most seriously affected. According to the Center for Global Development, “climate change will be awful for everyone but catastrophic for the poor”, despite climate historically being the responsibility of the richer Global North. On this World Kindness Day, we must try and remember these countries, and extend our empathy and compassion to those communities already suffering the consequences of a warming world.
I could not write about World Kindness Day without mentioning kindness to ourselves. Whilst the purpose of this blog is to inspire myself and others to look after the planet, I think this will be an easier task if we are first kind to ourselves - as cliché as it sounds. This is especially important because being an eco-warrior is a difficult, and at times exhausting, task and we need to be prepared for its ups and downs by cushioning our minds with love, patience and empathy. We must also allow for mistakes and mess ups, because no one is the perfect environmental activist (whilst I try to be vegan and avoid fast fashion, my plastic consumption is awful - I’m just taking it one step at a time).
2020 has been an extremely challenging year for everyone, but it has also seen some incredibly moving stories of compassion. This year’s World Kindness Day is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the human being’s unique ability to act with empathy, and perhaps imagine ways in which we can grow this skill. As we move into a new decade, perhaps we can begin to internalise the movements of buen vivir and the Gaia hypothesis so that our mindsets shift to accept the Earth as part of ourselves, and we can recognise our role in looking after the planet. The very act of shifting our way of thinking about the Earth would have extremely valuable consequences for the environment. I end with the words of Alberto Acosta, president of Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly, who states simply that “only by imagining other worlds will this one be changed.” The possibilities of an alternate, more ecologically-harmonious world are there, and by slightly adapting our minds we can finally begin to realise them.