EARTH DAY
By Maria Agnes Prieto
EARTH DAY was a recent global event that linked concerned citizens together in litter clean-ups, festivals, meditation
sessions, tree-planting events, theater presentations, rallies as well as bikathons all over the world. Even Mt. Everest,
which has not been spared from global garbage was scaled by fifteen mountaineer ecologists who cleared the junk dump
on its summit.
Suddenly, we are experiencing an Earth Renaissance---an awareness that the earth and its bounties which we
have so long taken for granted might be running out on us. Jolted by water shortages, pollution, floods, erratic weather,
brownouts and other not-to-be-ignored occurrences such as famines and floods, earth citizens are realizing that their
concern might even be too late. Nature, too long ignored and abused has began to falter and now seems to be in its
death throes.
The forests are shorn of their trees----and their wildlife; thousands of animal and insect species have become
extinct. Our seas have become dumping grounds for waste-----the once-blue waters turned poison, sea creatures dead
from toxic substances are washed up on shores littered by Coke cans and plastic junk. Even the air we breath has turned
harmful, fraught with carbon monoxide and in the worst cases, nuclear waste.
Where before our forests gifted us lavishly with fruits and flowers, our seas with glistening pearls and the air
with pristine, life-giving oxygen----now our only entitlements are the yields of our malignancies, the plunder that our
industries and technologies have wreaked on nature, all in the name of progress.
It is time we made peace with the earth.
Over a hundred million people on one hundred fifteen countries took part in Earth Day, touted to be the largest
global demonstration in history. There were then, those who adopted beaches, transplanted forests and ate organic
food. "Who says you can't change the world?" was the slogan. Yes, indeed, who says you can't change the world with
emphasis on the YOU, singular, for though mass action is emphatic, it is still the individual concern and action that fuels
the environmentalist movement.
In fact, the global move towards an ecologically balanced environment only reflects an inner awareness that
decries the personal imbalances that have come about because man has neglected to listen to the inner voices that
called for a tempering of greed, for a gentling of the spirit. The spirited race to the corporate top which results only in
more resources for consumer goods, a strong profit-orientation; the "me" generation at its hilt has blinded consideration
for other forces which are integral to life on this planet. Now, more and more people, sensitive to the New Age, are
quieting down enough to listen to voices closer to one's core, more aligned with their environment----with the trees, the
soil, the rains, the stars and planets even.
For so long now, it has only been a take-take situation as far as the earth was concerned. We built factories, and
dams and nuclear reactors; we killed off whales and dolphins and fish; we slashed and burned entire forests----all in the
name of the great consumer society. Now, having abused nature's generosity, we find that it is us who will be consumed
by the results of so-called development, if we don't do anything about it. It's got to be give and take now. And it is an
individual commitment.
Governments, nationalist groups and the multi-nationals are slowly growing towards awareness but these efforts
are insufficient. A proposal by the United Nations Environment Program to package a treaty among nations limiting the
release of carbon dioxide has been stymied by US President George Bush who says that global warning is a problem that
needs study, not immediate action. Industrial giants such as Union Carbide have promised to plant half a million trees,
the leaders of the US and Australia have pledged a billion trees each----but up to now people are asking "Where's the
funding?"
The earth cannot wait for the governments and corporate giants. It is up to you and others like you who can
make the difference in your own environment. And you will not be alone----there are those children who filed a suit
against DENR Secretary Jun Factoran to cancel all timber license agreements in the country; the citizens of Calaca and
Lemery who picketed the local Napocor plant against pollution from the coal-fired power plant. Across the globe, there is
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Jose Lutzenberger, an ecologically oriented agronomist in Brazil who aroused the ire of his government when he called
for a halt to the destruction of the rain forests. Today, much to the surprise of the people in the environmentalist
movement, Lutzen berger was named Secretary of the Environment by the newly-in augurated President Fernando Collor
de Mello. Then a tourist to the Texas Gulf coast, Linda Maraniss was appalled at the flotsam and jetsam that floated
down the formerly pristine waters. She organized the first Texas coastal cleanup which has since then become an annual
event; last fall more than 8,000 people bagged 158 tons of trash. Twenty four other states hold their own clean-up.
In ancient times, our ancestors worshipped nature. They felt the manifestation of Divine Power in the trees, the
sun, the air, the waters. They believed in a unity with these powers (for they are powers); valued and respected that
oneness. The rivers were gentle sisters, the winds, an emphatic brother. There were the spirits who inhabited the mango
tress from whom one had to ask permission in order to partake of its fruits. There were the anitos who protected
mountains and hills. There were Mariang Makiling of the Laguna mount, Mariang Dolores of Banahaw. There were the
cycles of cold and heat, wet and dry and in their wisdom, they realized that for as long as they kept close to these
rhythms, nature would continually share its bounty with them.
You need not go into the ancient rites of Pantheism to give back to the earth its due. In fact, it is not high-flown
rhetoric and great intentions that will turn the tide but mundane, everyday stuff: just make sure that your plastic and
styrofoam junk are properly disposed of. When you do your groceries don't buy aerosol sprays, use lotions, gel or nonaerosol sprays. Use rechargeable batteries since "dead" batteries are non-recyclable. You don't need sprays to clean up
your house----homemade mixtures of baking soda and white vinegar can do the trick with windows, rugs and carpets.
Little things, insignificant almost. But every effort counts. The important thing is to care----and care is always manifested
in little things.
And the earth will give back that caring to you; for in the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins
The world is charged with the grandeur of God
It will flame out like shining from shook foil
It gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil crushed
Why do men then now wreck His rod
Generations have trod, have trod
And wears man's smudge
and share man's smell
The soil is bare now,
nor can foot feel, being shod
But for all these,
nature is never spent
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things
And though the lights off the black west went
Morning at the brown-brink eastward springs
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World-broods with warm breast
And with... ah, bright wings.
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