Earth Day of 2020 marks the significant Golden Earth year since the UN initiated Earth Day in 1970. The Golden Earth year takes place amidst the global pandemic of COVID -19, which is inflicting great challenges on the human race, including loss of life and conflict on our earth.

Earth is life – life in all its fullness.
Earth is a gift, one that is intertwined with life.
Earth is precious and valuable, and it is not to be plundered nor exploited.
If done so, our gift of earth and life will be destroyed.

Oikumene refers to all life on earth, including the flora, fauna and the human race. All that is under the sky is equal, and the earth is an equal gift to all. In an ecosystem, there is no hierarchy, as interdependence, harmony and living together are the norm. Earth is a gift in the purest form, and it should be protected from generation to generation.

Humans have taken over parts of the earth, forgetting that it is for all and for the generations to come. Over time, humans have also excluded other humans from enjoying the beauty and bounty of the earth in the name of caste, creed, gender, age, race and ability. These inequalities and injustices are reflected in various ways around the world, leading to the destruction of the earth and the human race.

Earth has enough for everybody’s needs, not for every body’s greed.

As people around the world fight a global pandemic this earth day which has kept many people in a state of lockdown, the earth is breathing a little easier.

This raises critical questions; do we need a virus to tell us to stay indoors and to treat the earth with care? This Earth Day presents us with a good opportunity to reflect on what is essential and what is not, on how we can treat the earth more gently and live a holistic life with only the essentials. A motto of minimum and essential for all, in all, could save the earth and humans too.

“Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment
Simple gifts of nature that all join into a paradise
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love throughout all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love throughout all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world.”

 

Blog written by Joycia Thorat, CASA India