The Earth as a living breathing organism: Reorienting our world view

At this time, our thoughts will start drifting towards the much anticipated general election. The coming election is expected to be hotly contested by the ruling coalition and the opposition parties.

Feb 09, 2018

By Anil Netto
At this time, our thoughts will start drifting towards the much anticipated general election. The coming election is expected to be hotly contested by the ruling coalition and the opposition parties.

Yet, there are some critical issues that should be put on the table and debated — beyond the critical issues of corruption, ethnic relations and religious diversity.

First, the Cry of the Earth and climate change. All our problems will pale into insignificance in the face of extreme weather conditions. So we have to look into what is causing weather patterns to worsen.

To what extent is our economic system and our lifestyle contributing to these extreme weather patterns? Is our model of development sustainable? The capitalist system assumes that the supply of raw materials is infinite — when this is clearly not the case.

Unfortunately, climate change is unlikely to be an election issue as we are so used to thinking of the short-term ie the next five-year term — even though this is an issue that will surely affect the next generation. Do we care enough for the next generation and the kind of world they will be living in? It says a lot that we seem to be only concerned about our immediate wellbeing.

Second, the Cry of the Poor. The global economic system — and to a large extent, the Malaysian system — has not distributed the fruit of economic growth fairly. Much of the wealth produced is going to a smaller segment and this is something our GDP and foreign direct investment figures don’t tell us.

Even our taxation system has turned regressive while offshore havens allow the elite to stash their wealth abroad. Meanwhile, the working class finds it tough to make ends meet.

The problem is we have put the interests of Big Capital and corporate-led economy on top of the food chain — above the wellbeing of the Earth and workers.

This is hardly surprising: when studying economics, one of the first things we used to learn was that land and labour, along with capital, are “factors of production.” In other words, human beings — in the past, principally men — were masters of the Earth, often viewed as feminine.

Viewed in this way, the world is a place where we exploit financial and human “capital” and land to accumulate staggering amounts of wealth often ending up in the hands of a Few successful entrepreneurs. In the process, we leave the Many, the multitude of humanity, struggling to live in dignity. The Earth itself is left degraded and weeping as non-mineral raw materials and minerals are extracted from the ground, resulting in carbon emissions aggravating global warming.

This view of the world is a most unspiritual way of looking at creation, and we need to re-orient our perspective to save our planet.

The reality is that the Earth is God’s creation and we are all part of it. In fact, human beings were latecomers to the blue planet, so we have an added responsibility not to ruin the priceless legacy that has been bestowed on us.

We are all interconnected — the hills and the seas and the forests; human beings, animals, fish, insects and other organisms and microorganisms of the Earth.

And the human economy is part of this world, a subset of the natural ecology.

So we need to live in harmony and care for creation, just as St Francis of Assisi showed us.

The wealth of the world has to be shared fairly with all of humanity so that no one is left in need. As the saying goes, the opposite of poverty is not wealth but justice — distributive justice for workers and ecological justice for all the creatures of the world.

So it is this view of Mother Earth as a living, breathing organism — infused with the breath of the Spirit — that we have to keep in mind, protect and care for.

Total Comments:0

Name
Email
Comments