The Earth is what we all have in common. It is what we are made of and what we live from, and we cannot damage it without damaging those with whom we share it. There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward the earth and our behavior towards people. By some connection we do not recognize, the willingness to exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other… It is impossible to care for each other more or differently than we care for the earth.
What do we mean by living in harmony with the earth? Does it mean that you never kill, that you live in a log cabin, that you don’t reproduce, that you own nothing? Of course it doesn’t. In practice, what it means is that each of us keeps trying (in our own ways and at our own pace) to lessen our impact upon the earth and its life.
Steve VanMatre