Nomad Manager

Does The Earth Still Have A Chance?

Reading my Twitter and Facebook feeds, and the news about the millions of people affected by the month’s worth of rain that poured down on the Philippines this past week or so has left me feeling rather helpless while traveling here in Luang Prabang, Laos.

It has been making me think about what I can do from this part of the world, or what I can do when I get back home. At the same time, it has channeled the cynic in me and made me think: Does the Earth still have a chance?

Conversing with a Laotian bookshop owner about the flooding back home, he made a fleeting reference to it being the year 2012. While I’m not superstitious in that sense, seeing all the effects of irresponsible behavior of humans, who are supposedly “stewards of the Earth”, makes me feel that we really don’t have much time left on this planet.

The whole world is now suffering the bad karma of years and years of greedy/irresponsible capitalism, unsustainable/destructive tourism, and wasteful/superfluous consumerism. And while it may be largely contributed to by monster-sized corporations or tour operators, every individual also contributes to this with the choices we make everyday.

While I don’t think I live the most perfectly eco-friendly life, I do not want to be a big contributor to further hastening its degradation. So I try, every day, to make better choices, with what I eat or don’t eat, what I buy or don’t buy, what I do or don’t do, even if the effects of my actions today won’t be felt until years down the road (or until more earthlings join this green movement — also thinking of starting regular tweets about green tips or tidbits).

Maybe we can’t really prevent more of these unusual weather occurrences from happening, but I think we should try. And I hope that maybe, just maybe, we can live on this planet a little longer, a little better, and prevent it from becoming a more and more perilous place to live in for humans, animals, and plants alike.

Earth, fire, wind, water, heart,
Jen

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