Sometimes it is difficult to understand the power of one person living in a world of billions of others. Here’s a little exercise to help. Take a moment to think about the breadth and depth of the environmental disasters we face today. Think about the air pollution and the health effects we experience when we breathe that air. Think about the serious water issues we face: the pollution, the scarcity, the looming wars over water. Think about the deteriorating soil quality, the dying oceans, the endangered wildlife, the increasing occurrences of wild fires that each year are more severe than the last. And think about the critical issue of global warming and its ramifications for everyone and everything around the world.
Now think about this: Every one of these problems has been created by us humans over a relatively short period of time. By “us” I don’t mean large groups or global populations acting in concert. This disaster has been created by individuals acting independently. By “us” I am referring to you, me, our spouses, each of our children, our grandfathers, our grandmothers, our cousins . . . Our current crisis was created by each of us acting independently and establishing a personal and professional lifestyle that was environmentally deaf, dumb and blind.
The needed coordination between governments and industry to turn this crisis around will never succeed if we as individuals don’t join in the efforts. If the same number of individuals who created the problem focused on what they need to do on the personal level to live an environmentally conscious life, we could turn the global problems around in an amazingly short time. I believe in the power of the individual and I believe in the importance of our acting responsibly as individuals without waiting for the right leader or group. In actuality, it’s the power of the individual that leads the way.
Now imagine what we individuals could accomplish if we teamed up with the greatest authority in the field of balance — nature — to help us personally to make the best decisions for improving our lives and our planet.
Reprinted with the permission of Machaelle Wright of Perelandra-ltd.com
Jessica Grimm says
September 3, 2018 at 16:41That is a powerful statement Ann! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Ann Bernard says
September 4, 2018 at 00:17Hello Jessica, I found this communication from Machaelle so powerful that I wanted to share it. If each of us does a little bit to help the planet recover its health and equilibrium, the accumulation will help this happen. I found your last post most interesting but fail to be able comment or ask a question about it. How do i go about communicating with you? Ann
Diane Martin says
September 3, 2018 at 22:05It’s so true ! But will we be able to « turn the global problems around » ? It’s so frustrating to see incompetent people governing us !
Diane
Ann Bernard says
September 4, 2018 at 00:39Hello Diane, As Machaelle says, if we each do a bit acting as individuals, it will help reverse this dire situation.
I have copied a brief news report that inspires and gives me confidence in the generation of the future.
Can you remember what you were doing when you were 12?
This month I want to celebrate the next generation of heroes by sharing some of the incredible young people changing the world on our platform: tackling issues like single-use plastic, protecting students from sexual abuse, and food waste.
Mya and Eve
These 12-year-old environmental activists from Calgary joined a coalition and successfully petitioned Starbucks to invest in developing a more environmentally-friendly cup. I was there when the young girls met with the CEO of Starbucks, Kevin Johnson, presented their petition and spoke about ways Starbucks could reduce its impact on the planet.
It was a victory! Starbucks responded by committing $10 million USD to develop a fully recyclable and compostable nextgen cup!
It was incredibly inspiring to see a sixth-grade school science project transform into a global campaign with more than 300,000 supporters from around the world — and even more inspiring to see that the girls’ success with a global coffee giant only motivated them to do more!
Mya and Eve recently joined forces with Ben, another young change-maker from Calgary. Together they’re asking Canadian favourite Tim Hortons to join Starbucks and invest in developing and using a more environmentally-friendly cup.
Bravo to these two young ladies!
The power of the individual, or two or three individuals, can have a real impact. The politicians will, finally, listen and follow the crowd. Hopefully, this will be sooner rather than later.
All the best of good wishes,
Ann