Moment for the Planet March 8, 2019
By Shanti Moorjani
Last Sunday, March 2, 2019 at the 10am service, I shared information on a book that was recently published called "The Uninhabitable Earth" by David Wallace-Wells. I had seen him being interviewed on the PBS News Hour two days previously. This book does not sugar coat the climate crisis our planet is entering but starts out with a statement like this: " It is worse, much worse than you think. If your anxieties about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible." One comment by another author about this book said: "This is truly the most important book I have ever read, and one of the best written. It is so good, so complete, and well-organized and argued that I immediately stopped writing my new book on the same subject."
When I listened to the interview of Mr. Wallace-Wells, he was firm that this generation alive at this time in history, is the only generation that can do something about changing the direction of global warming. The only way to do this is through elected officials; we need informed, responsible and strong leaders that can lead us to make the changes that will dramatically tackle the problem now. For the next generation, the effects will have already disrupted our way of life and altered the planet.
I did disagree with the author on one point. He said, "one person, no matter how conscious they are about their living habits, they could not make a difference". Even so, a Tsunami is made up of many drops of water. When many people on the planet think of themselves as a "Person of the Planet" their many individual voices will make a big difference in how everything is done and what leaders are elected to do the work of reshaping business practices and patterns of consumption. Imagine millions of people asking the question; "Is this good for the planet?" about every decision they make and then doing the best they can to make the right decision.
The book is available on line. Local book stores are just starting to get it in.