A planetary crisis is presently affecting all existent on Earth.
The crisis developed due to the fact that, instead of increasingly becoming co-creators in the on-going multi-billion-year story of creation, we humans became more and more like “exterminators.” We became the one main cause of the massive extinction of plant and animal species by the way we chose to produce and reproduce our means of life and livelihood. You see, we humans had chosen mainly an extractive rather than an organic way of undertaking economic activities.
With modern technologies and the industrial mode under the control of the modern corporation we humans sought an unqualified conquest of the forces of nature. The integral functioning of Earth’s life systems that had been going on for 4.6 billion years came under the assault from us humans as we sought to absolutely own – meaning use, abuse, and misuse Earth’s resources regardless of the consequences for the natural systems of the planet.
What is the difference between the extractive and the organic economy?
We humans first embraced the organic economy – which by its nature is an ever-renewing economy, living within the bounty of the seasonal renewing productions of Earth’s biosystems, making it capable of continuing into the indefinite future.
Later, however, we got into an extractive economy, which by its nature is a terminal, or biologically disruptive economy, dependent on extracting non-renewing substances from Earth, surviving only so long as these endured.
- What are some features of the extractive economy?
The Extractive Economy: disturbs the chemical composition of Earth’s air, water and soil to the extent of affecting the entire network of organic life on the planet; weakened the ozone layer protecting the organic forms of Earth from the ultraviolet rays of the Sun; destroys the tropical rain forests on a massive scale and a big part of Earth’s biodiversity; brings about an excessive amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by its burning of fossil fuels, causing disastrous changes in the global climate, which is why, in 200 years or less, it has brought about a level of species extinction unprecedented in the past 65 million years.
- What else has the extractive economy done?
It has brought about processes giving off toxic residues for which there are, at present, no adequate methods of disposal. This is especially in products from metals and petroleum in the making of fuel and plastics and the consequent dispersal of contaminants and toxic residue throughout Earth’s air, water and soil.
It has consumed over 80% of the available supply of fossil sources so that by the end of this century we may yet see the absolute end of petroleum as we have known it – and the conditions of its production will never occur again.
It has used engineering technologies to turn even renewing resources into non-renewing resources! for example: exploiting the soils of Earth through chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides to a degree that it has exhausted these soils and made them toxic; for another example: in the fishing industry, through electronic instruments, draft nets, factory fishing vessels that so exhaust the resources of the seas and rivers of the world terminating their capacity for self-renewal.
- Are you serious when you call us exterminators and you talk of species extinction?
It is not always easy to grasp the truth that species can go extinct. It is estimated that there are about 10-12 million species of plants and animals, of which around 2 million have been identified and named. Extinction means the disappearance of an entire species, with no possibility of replication or regeneration. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
In the 1800’s the rate of extinction was one species a month, or about twelve a year. Currently it is estimated to be one every 15 minutes, or a hundred a day, or between 30 and 40 thousand a year, since the past twenty years or so. This is considered by many scientists as mass extinction.
The last mass extinction happened about 65 million years ago, with the demise of the dinosaurs, which are included among the 75% of all species that became extinct. A mass extinction signals the end of an era.
The age of Dinosaurs came to an end because of an asteroid that hit Earth so bad. The age of Mammals is coming to an end because of human activity. Yes, this is the big problem: we humans are so ignorant of the fact that we have become such a planetary power for better or for worse. To date, it has been greatly for worse. The modest ambition of the Great Work Movement is to get us humans to exercise our power to usher in a new age – an era wherein we humans shall finally have found a way of living in harmony with all creation – a new era which we may call the Ecological Age or the Ecozoic era.
- Having rejected the extractive economy, tell us more about the organic economy.
The organic economy recognizes the obvious reality that the universe, the solar system, Earth are the primary given in human affairs. Earth is the primary source of existence. Every mode of being is universe-referent. Therefore, whatever we think or do must be done, planned, and looked at as by people who are part of and not apart from the universe, people who are part of and not apart from Earth.
Second, the universe does not exist as a vastly extended sameness but as highly differentiated forms. For example, Earth is a highly differentiated complex of life systems. As soon as its diversity diminishes, the security for each life form is also weakened. Nothing exists in isolation: the honeybee and the flower, the tree and the soil. In fact, the hundred-plus elements of matter are self-organized in their being into the 5 spheres of which Earth is composed: the land sphere, the water sphere, the aerosphere, the life sphere, and the mind sphere.
Third, especially in the realm of living beings is there an absolute interdependence. No living being nourishes itself. Animal forms depend on plant forms that alone can transform the energy of the Sun and the minerals of Earth into the living substance needed for life nourishment by animal and human alike. Therefore, the organic economy recognizes that the well-being of the soil and the plants growing there must be a primary concern for humans.
Finally, the organic economy must establish our basic source of food and energy in the Sun, which supplies the energy for the transformation of inanimate matter into living substance capable of nourishing the larger biosystems of Earth. It must shun monoculture in agriculture and excessive uniformity in industry because it is closer to nature to produce diversity.
- Have we humans really become a planetary power?
Down the millennia, we humans have become the most powerful Earthlings of all but have forgotten that we are made out of Earth’s air, water and soil.
We cut down trees and constructed buildings everywhere. We figured out how to power cars and planes by burning ancient fossil fuels. We made plastic and molded it into a zillion things. We used chemicals to grow more food.
We acted as though we owned everything absolutely to use as we wish.
We didn’t realize we were poisoning Earth’s lungs, veins and skin.
The Sun’s energy enters the atmosphere, heats up Earth. Then light is re-radiated back into space in form of infra red waves, a portion of which is trapped by the atmosphere in amounts that are just right. Neither too hot like Venus nor too cold like Mars. But now huge quantities of human-caused carbon dioxide and other green house gases get trapped and as a result the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere – and oceans – gets dangerously higher and warmer. This is global warming.
Warmer water in the top layer of the ocean drives more convection energy to fuel more powerful typhoons and hurricanes in increased frequency. We in the Philippines are so badly affected.
As water temperatures go up, wind velocity goes up, and so does storm moisture condensation. It also causes more of both floods and droughts. Also, global warming sucks more moisture out of the soil and, as a consequence, increases desertification, causes more fires, and we experience less productive agriculture. Global warming leads to global food shortages.
- Are we humans all that malicious or just plain ignorant?
Whatever … it’s only now we are beginning to realize that we are cosmological beings – that is we are beings who belong to and are essentially part of an evolving cosmos. We could not have known from empirical observation or scientific conclusions till only recently – what perhaps the major living faiths have taught all along – that all of us humans and non-humans alike are the Universe in various forms.
It is the scientific consensus reached only in recent years that we are all related genetically, in energy, in the material elements that compose us, all of which started many long years ago, long before we were “born”, thirteen billion seven hundred million years ago to be precise: itself a calculation that is a feat of modern-day science.
This is the universe story, of which we are a part: a true story that, in fact, had a beginning, is continuing right now, and is challenging us humans to see our role in the whole magnificent process. Science has started a massive revolution in human consciousness, that what we are started 13.7 billion years ago. No matter how young you are, you are really that old. Remember folks that you are stardust and unto dust you will return.
- Tell us more about this new consciousness.
It is not that Earth was assembled and we were added on to it. No, the scientific observation is that we grew out of Earth. This is the way our Creator made us – in evolutionary form.
We are the universe in human form: every cell in our body is packed with hydrogen, made when the universe was born; our bones are hardened with calcium made by stars, long ago, before even Earth was; our backbone was fashioned by fish; the deepest part of our brain was built by reptiles; the love we feel for another deepened inside the very first mammals; our awe-filled wonder began on starry nights around campfires long, long ago…in a long evolutionary journey that has brought us where we are now.
Thus we see Earth no longer as a mere planet solid enough through gravity to keep us Earthlings from falling off and out to wherever in space imagination will throw us. That is not Earth.
Earth, rather, is a single integral community of life manifesting itself in different modes – as tree, as insect, as river, as mountain, as human, as a whole diversity of many other kinds, human and non-human – who live in relationship with all others, each being having its own role to play and fulfill, its own dignity, its inner spontaneity, its own rights – yes, Earth recognizes not only human rights but, equally and differently, also non-human rights like tree rights, insect rights, – all limited and relative to each other in a continuity of being.
We believe …
That Creation is a single act, a work in progress, still unfolding …
That the Earth and all its fullness is the primary revelation of the Creator’s love of life …
That, in the human species, the Universe reflects upon itself, and …
That all is gift, and a call to responsibility, joy, and celebration.
We therefore make this pledge for a new era, the Ecozoic Era:
We will not bring about the desolation of Earth by acts of exploitation or self-serving gain.
We will pursue the ideal of humans and Earth as one sacred community, both individually and in solidarity with others.
will cherish and learn from Earth, our Mother, and insist for a similar response in those vested with power.
We will seek to activate human energy and love for life in people of all ages and nations.
In all these observances, we will pass to the next generation our planet, not sullied, but flashing forth greater grandeur than was our inheritance!
Selected Bibliography:
By Brian Swimme:
Manifesto for a Global Civilization (with Matthew Fox), Bear and Company, 1982, ISBN 0-939680-05-X
The Universe is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story, Bear and Company, 1984, ISBN 0-939680-14-9
The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era: A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, Harper, 1992 (1994, ISBN 0-06-250835-0) – a culmination of a 10-year collaboration with cultural historian Thomas Berry
The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, Orbis, 1996 (1999, ISBN 1-57075-281-8)
A Walk Through Time: From Stardust to Us – The Evolution of Life on Earth (with Sidney Liebes and Elisabet Sahtouris), John Wiley & Sons, 1998, ISBN 0-471-31700-4
By Thomas Berry:
The Historical Theory of Giambattista Vico (1949)
Buddhism (1968)
The Religions of India (1972)
The Dream of the Earth (1988)
Befriending the Earth (with Thomas Clarke, 1991)
The Universe Story From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era, A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos (with physicist Brian Swimme, 1992)
The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (1999), Bell Tower/Random House, NY, ISBN 0-609-80499-5
By Jennifer Morgan:
BORN WITH A BANG: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story (Book 1)
Cosmology for everyone, this is a story of the universe from the Big Bang to the formation of Earth, in the form of a letter written by the thirteen-billion-year-old universe itself to an Earthling.
FROM LAVA TO LIFE: The Universe Tells Our Earth Story (Book 2)
The Universe continues with the story of Earth from the beginning of life up to the extinction of dinosaurs.
Mammals Who Morph: The Universe Tells Our Evolution Story (Book 3)
Covers the story of mammals from 65 million years ago to today, including the human story.
The Books of Pere Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:
The dates in parentheses are the dates of first publication in French and English. Most of these works were written years earlier, but Teilhard’s ecclesiastical order forbade him to publish them because of their controversial nature. The essay collections are organized by subject rather than date, thus each one typically spans many years.
Le Phénomène Humain (1955), written 1938–40, scientific exposition of Teilhard’s theory of evolution
The Phenomenon of Man (1959), Harper Perennial 1976: ISBN 0-06-090495-X. Reprint 2008: ISBN 978-0061632655.
The Human Phenomenon (1999), Brighton: Sussex Academic, 2003: ISBN 1-902210-30-1
Letters From a Traveler (1956; English translation 1962), written 1923–55
Le Groupe Zoologique Humain (1956), written 1949, more detailed presentation of Teilhard’s theories
Man’s Place in Nature (English translation 1966)
Le Milieu Divin (1957), spiritual book written 1926–27, in which the author seeks to offer a way for everyday life, or the secular, to be divinised.
The Divine Milieu (1960) Harper Perennial 2001: ISBN 0-06-093725-4
L’Avenir de l’Homme (1959) essays written 1920–52, on the evolution of consciousness (noosphere)
The Future of Man (1964) Image 2004: ISBN 0-385-51072-1
Hymn of the Universe (1961; English translation 1965) Harper and Row: ISBN 0-06-131910-4, mystical/spiritual essays and thoughts written 1916–55
L’Energie Humaine (1962), essays written 1931–39, on morality and love
Human Energy (1969) Harcort Brace Jovanovich ISBN 0-15-642300-6
L’Activation de l’Energie (1963), sequel to Human Energy, essays written 1939–55 but not planned for publication, about the universality and irreversibility of human action
Activation of Energy (1970), Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602817-4
Je M’Explique (1966) Jean-Pierre Demoulin, editor ISBN 0-685-36593-X, “The Essential Teilhard” — selected passages from his works
Let Me Explain (1970) Harper and Row ISBN 0-06-061800-0, Collins/Fontana 1973: ISBN 0-00-623379-1
Christianity and Evolution, Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602818-2
The Heart of the Matter, Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602758-5
Toward the Future, Harvest/HBJ 2002: ISBN 0-15-602819-0
The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Soldier-Priest 1914-1919, Collins (1965), Letters written during wartime.
Writings in Time of War, Collins (1968) composed of spiritual essays written during wartime. One of the few books of Teilhard to receive an imprimatur.
Vision of the Past, Collins (1966) composed of mostly scientific essays published in the French science journal Etudes.
The Appearance of Man, Collins (1965) composed of mostly scientific writings published in the French science journal Etudes.
Letters to Two Friends 1926-1952, Fontana (1968) composed of personal letters on varied subjects including his understanding of death.
Letters to Leontine Zanta, Collins (1969)
Correspondence / Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Maurice Blondel, Herder and Herder (1967) This correspondence also has both the imprimatur and nihil obstat.
de Chardin, P T (1952). “On the zoological position and the evolutionary significance of Australopithecines”. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 14 (5): pp. 208–10. 1952 Mar. PMID 14931535.
de Terra, H; de Chardin, PT; Paterson, TT (1936). “Joint geological and prehistoric studies of the Late Cenozoic in India”. Science 83 (2149): 233–236. 6 March 1936. doi:10.1126/science.83.2149.233-a. PMID 17809311.
–FINIS-
Charles Avila -The Gardener
The Gardener’s Tales