While Coming and Going, Leave No Trace

“Coming,

going, 

the waterbirds,

don’t leave a trace, 

don’t follow a path."

- Dogen Zenji

Back in the day when I did a lot of backpacking in the wilderness, I practiced what is called "leave no trace" camping ethics.

Basically that meant "take nothing but pictures, and leave nothing but footprints." 

It also meant, "respect the experience of other campers".

My hiking partners and I put a lot of effort into our no impact excursions. We wanted to leave the wild places we visited in better shape than we found them.

Often that meant cleaning fire rings and campsites of garbage left behind by others. We packed out a lot of disrespectful hikers's mistakes.

The lessons I learned camping I have applied to the rest of my life.

Now when I come and I go I try to leave no trace. 

And the most liberating way to hike through life is on the path of no path, when one is free to wander unobstructed by things or rigid thinking.

Wouldn't it be beneficial if we could leave the Earth in better shape than when we came in to it? 

That is my goal.

No trace living can do that.

A Triumph of Principles

A return flight from Halifax to Calgary for two would produce 1.11 tons of CO2.

I could have went with the title, "Should we Stay, Or Should We Go?" for this post. I consider this after we were invited to fly an 8000 km round trip to attend a family gathering for the weekend.

Then running across some Ralph Waldo Emerson helped me out with what I thought to be the better title. 

“Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles", he said.

That really spoke to me, so I thought about it for a while.

First I looked to see if there was still a climate emergency. Check. There is.

Then I added to that the extinction emergency, resource emergency, and inequality emergency (to name just a few). The flight was not looking as good as it looks on the surface.

"At what point?" I wondered, "should one start to change ones behaviour?" When it is a Class 1 emergency? A 5? Are we at at 10 yet? Should I change my ways now? 

How about now? Now? When? 

Are we being "climate ignorers"? Being addicted to a consumer lifestyle, like any addiction, requires the denial of the consequences. How long can the ignoring go on?

Moving forward, we all will have to determine exactly what our principles are, and what we are willing to do, or not do, to be true to them. 

Am I willing to stand for what I believe, or do I cave easily and do something that doesn't jell with me just because it would be nice? Or fun. Or out of the ordinary? 

My principles tell me that the two of us flying such a trip would significantly increase our carbon footprint at a time when scientists are imploring us to reduce and even eliminate our carbon consumption. 

My principles tell me there are consequences to our behaviours, and those consequences are now coming to haunt us. The time to change our ways, it seems to me, is now.

Therefore, in the end we decided that while family is important, the importance of our commitment to the Earth, to the larger human family, and to our principles, is greater still. 

Going on such a trip would bear gifts, no doubt, but for us, not as much as not going will.

We are willing to make this sacrifice for the greater good, and see our decision as a triumph of principles. 

We are staying.

That brings me peace, even if I do miss my family.

The Beet Abides

Fresh out of the fridge, and abiding already.

It is always wise to invest in things that abide, rather than fleeting trinkets and entertainments. But what abides?

I know of a bunch of things that don't abide, and that would be pretty much anything proposed by our throw-away, planned obsolescence, live-for-today, corporate, profit-driven ethos.

Then there are some of the solid things that do abide, including: Nature, the Earth, Hope, and Love.

And my beets. My beets abide.

Couple of weeks later and still going.

In October I pulled the remaining beets from our garden. In the beginning of November I took some out of the fridge to cook. Some of the tops still had small, green leaves hanging in there, despite the days and days of refrigerated winter they had endured.

I chose two and put them in water and set them in the kitchen window. I swear they started growing instantly. 

Since then, we have been watching the beet tops continue to unfold. Even after all they have been through, they have abibdden.

Several weeks later it is cold and snowy outside, and still the beets hang in there.

Will humanity be something that abides? Are we as good as the lowly beet? Will we carry on, despite the injustices we have perpetrated in the name of fulfilling fleeting desires and distractions? 

Or will we wilt and waste away?

We need to be like the beet, and keep on growing, despite being ripped from the soil of normality, enduring a perpetually cooling economy, all the while being cooked in a mess of global warming. 

We have to be the green shoots, the thriving, growing centres of creation where the magic happens.

Not only is it a wise time to invest in things that abide, now it is more important than ever to be something that abides. 

Like The Beet. The Beet abides. 

Be the beet.

Earth Overshoot Day

We are approaching the day of the year at which human consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate, a sad moment dubbed "Earth Overshoot Day". Unsurprisingly, this day has been coming sooner and sooner since the 1970s.

The 70s was the decade that the globe moved from a sustainable level of consumption into overshoot. From that point on we have been drawing our resources from our Bank of Nature account, which is getting drawn down faster than it can be replenished. 

When is your country's Earth Overshoot Day? It is an embarrassing May 8 for Canada,
much sooner than the global average of August 1st. 
Find out more about your country here.

Our resource account is also getting drawn down faster and faster each year.


Past Earth Overshoot Dates


1970 - December 29

1980 - November 3

1990 - October 11

2000 - September 23

2010 - August 8

2018 - August 1


Since the 1970s we have gone from one planet living to 1.7 planet living. While this issue unfolds right before our eyes, we choose to not to see. Not only that, the precipice that we will plunge over is just ahead, and some world "leaders" are stepping on the gas pedal. 

We should fight this dangerous trend with all our might. Things will not change until we do. Our passivity is their advantage.

What is your personal Earth Overshoot Day? Find out by clicking on this image.

Regardless of how often we are told to keep calm, and carry on with our recreational shopping, driving, flying, meat eating, and producing waste like there is no tomorrow, we will not escape the repercussions of degrading our planet. 

Solutions

There are many doable right now solutions that could be implemented personally, at the community level, nationally, and globally. For now, the majority of high consuming nations and their citizens have chosen to ignore them. 

But how long can that continue before the people choose to see, decide to do something about it, and change the way we do things? Our planet has limits that can not be ignored forever.

That doesn't mean we are powerless - we can do a lot as individuals.

• become politically active: make phone calls, write letters, texts, tweets and emails, vote, run for office, support a rational, pro-environment candidate that thinks for themselves and wants to serve the people and the planet.
• the most rational and straightforward personal action would be to simplify a multi-planet lifestyle to the point of single-planet living. A challenge, to be sure, but entirely doable, not to mention, necessary if we are to survive.
• support your local economy
• eat a plant based diet, or if you can't give up meat, eat less of it (vegetarian foods are just as tasty, satisfying, and nutritious).
• drive, fly, and travel less often.
• use public transportation.
• limit the use of plastic.
• talk to others about Earth Overshoot Day.
• share what you are doing to respond to a clear and present danger to human survival.
• reduce desires and unrealistically high expectations
• find joy in simplicity
• plant a garden

I calculated the Overshoot Day for Linda and I (see image above), and came up with March 14, 2019. The Global Footprint Network told me: 

"Hurray! If everyone lived like you, there would be no Overshoot Day! We would only need 0.8 Earths." 

I dearly hope that is accurate. Even if it is, there is always more that we can do to reduce our impact on the Earth and all its inhabitants. 

I envision a time when there is no Overshoot Day, like not so long ago in the 70s. I believe it can be done. But will we do it in time? Start now, and avoid the rush.

Me Simplified

Birthplace: Earth

   

Religion: Love

Family: Humanity

Politics: Freedom

Passion: Nature

Goal: Self-Realization

Medicine: Laughter

Lifestyle: Simple