This is regeneration – life continues.However, we seem to forget that things don’t all just happen overnight. It took thousands and millions of years for whole habitats to evolve. And here in Australia we have lost entire habitats to the fires to date and the fires are still raging.Â
Many species are now considered extinct or threatened with extinction. We have lost more than 7 million hectares, with nearly 500 million animals killed, whilst more than 3000 homes have been destroyed and more than 30 lives lost.
It will take most of the people’s lives that have been impacted many years to recover at best – some will never find the way to fully recover. However, it’s estimated it is likely to take more than a century for our wildlife to recover – IF conditions support that.
But what about the ongoing and increasing issue of climate change? The debate still rages as fiercely as our fires. And meanwhile, as we continue to ignore the alarms, great things are at risk. Society is polarised and our politicians mostly continue to deflect, ignore and deny the grave reality of our circumstances.
Climate change… maybe we’re missing something. Maybe it’s not our minds that can end the debate or solve the problems… perhaps it’s our heart that can lead the way. I’m not saying our intelligence is irrelevant, because obviously we need to bring every inch of our intelligence to the problems we are facing.
What I’m saying is, we need to think at a higher level. if this is not driven by our hearts, if love is not our primary guide, then we will not find the motivation, the imagination at the level we need to create real and sustainable change.
Perhaps this is why we have seen a shift – there is an increasing swing towards an agreement that the science is right. Perhaps because so many more people are being directly impacted. Perhaps that’s what it takes for humans to care. But can we afford to wait for our own direct calamity before we act?
The powers that be seem to use ‘cost’ as a direct measure against climate change. Maybe if the ‘cost’ is so central in the debate of climate action then we should all be focused on the cost of NOT acting rather than the cost of change.
Perhaps we need to consider what we most deeply care about. We need to recognise what brings us love. What gives us life?? It surely isn’t more material possessions or greater bank balances. We know the GDP is a false measure of happiness.
Only love can bring us the clarity we need – the right vision and the restoration of life’s most essential values. Love holds the power, the unity we desperately need to rally the world together and step up to real change. And there is one thing we have in common – Earth is our home. We belong to her. She has provided for us and sustained us for millennia.
It is time we give love back to her. Let us grow a revolution of love for Earth. Let us demand that love be our commandment – if it is not loving and respectful to earth, to life – it is no longer acceptable. Together, with love, we can change the world.
First published by Isira on Instagram 29 January 2020
