Navel-gazing on Earth day, Gandhi style
On this Earth day–my first with Divine Green–I didn’t want to write about how to green your life or the many promising environmental initiatives that launched today. Thankfully, those topics were well covered in the mainstream press. Rather, I wanted to share a recent NPR “moment” that caused me to shift my thinking about conservation. (An NPR moment is the habit of staying in the car longer than intended just to listen to an engaging program on National Public Radio.)
The interview was with Arun Gandhi, the grandson of the Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. Now a teacher of nonviolent practices himself (although he’s run into some issues in the world community of late), Arun was describing his experience with his grandfather as a young boy, after having thrown out a nearly worn-out pencil. Gandhi asked after the pencil, and when Arun replied that he had disposed of it, his grandfather told him to go find it. “But it’s nighttime,” Arun protested.
So Gandhi handed him a flashlight.
The gist of the story was that there are two kinds of violence in the world: active and passive. Active violence is what we see play out in the streets of every nation around the globe. Passive violence, in contrast, is much more subtle and feeds into active violence. In this case, it can take the form of simply neglecting to honor the Earth’s natural resources and its limits; thereby contributing to excess waste and consumerism. After all, it requires great energy and matter to create something as small and seemingly disposable as a pencil. It’s reusable even with a dull point, Gandhi argued.
I kept this idea in mind during a recent spring-cleaning of my home. It takes a little extra effort to find a new home for old clothes, knickknacks and prescription bottles. But it’s worth it, and something simple everyone can do.
For another kind of Earthly inspiration, NASA published its top ten satellite views of our world today. Photos here.