Are you a leader, at least in your own sphere of influence, who cares about the environment? One of my favorite places is where I live in in the Florida Keys. When traveling for work, it’s hard to leave and is always a great place to come home to. But I’ve made it a point, no matter where I’ve lived, to find the best of the natural environment to immerse myself in – my cathedrals and places for spiritual connection (and fun – I believe joy to be a crucial component of spirituality).
The Keys, surrounded by ocean as they are, are causing me more concern lately. The more I learn about the environment and ecosystems, the more I realize that the Keys – like other places in the equatorial / tropical / subtropical belt around the planet, and the polar caps for that matter – are currently our “coal mine;” and here, the canaries are our coral reefs. Corals are little living animals, and those canaries are gasping – with some species of corals having been reduced to 6% of their former cover.
If you consider yourself a leader, or would like to, who cares about the environment, I wonder if you’ve seen this video, Wake Up Freak Out, from many months ago? More about the illustrator and film’s background can be found at http://wakeupfreakout.org. Where is that environmental tipping point anyway? When considering our coral reefs, all I can say is, it must be around here somewhere …
In my work, I am coming into contact with more and more individuals from Generation X (which encompasses the 44 to 50 million Americans born between 1965 and 1980, largely in their 30’s and early 40’s and on the whole, more ethnically diverse and better educated than the Baby Boomers – over 60% of Generation X attended college) and particularly Generation Y (also known as the “Millenials,” born in the mid-1980’s and later, these folks are in their 20s with numbers estimated as high as 70 million and include the fastest growing segment of today’s workforce). Do you know them?
I’m going to guess that Leo Murray, the illustrator of this film, is a Millenial. Here’s an interview with him. And another. He’s smart, informed, talented … and very concerned. And yet still seems lighthearted. He may well still distrust anyone over 30 – if that sounds familiar to you. In that, he may remind you of folks you know who used to feel that way (and who may still). I, for one, find myself totally alarmed on some days about what’s happening environmentally. I have to actively look for places to find hope for the future, which I have not abandoned – mainly because of this generation (of voters, I might add).
Hmmm. Ready to up the ante on that reduce-reuse-recycle-and-rot effort, carry your own cloth grocery bags (or take your groceries to the car in your cart and pack them there if you forget?), drive less, unplug an appliance or two when not in use or write a few more letters to your representatives?
No need to reply to me, but feel free to talk to a few more Millenials and other folks who run things (leaders) … or pass this along. Your planet, and my spiritual sanctuaries, thank you (as do I).