Reconciling change with stability can help save Earth.

Dear Fellow Earthlings, Change is part of life. Indeed, it is intrinsic to the universe. Numerous stars and

even galaxies are constantly forming, growing, dying. People too are here one day

and gone the next. Friendships are seldom forever. Nor are romantic relationships.

Perhaps it is for this reason that I have chosen to be an Earthsaver. Making an

effort to ward off change just for the sake of change is one of my ways of dealing

with what author Alvin Toffler's 1970 bestseller Future Shock refers to as "information overload".

When poor zoning laws permitted a so-called "developer" (a misnomer that should, in

this case be a "destructor") to erect a 14-story building just inches from my 4-story

private dwelling in Yokohama, Japan some 10 years ago, he took not only the sunshine

that used to bathe my home quite regularly, but also much of the sunshine out of my

soul. To this day I have never looked at that monstrosity next to my home in Yokohama.

I just pretend it is not there.

When I was a boy in Illinois, there were toads, frogs, box turtles, bluebirds, wildflowers,

and rabbits all over the neighborhood. Now all you can find are sparrows, rats, dogs, and

cats! All of those species are exotics, brought to Illinois from foreign places by people who

had no respect for the indigenous flora, fauna, or peoples (namely Amerindians) who

were already there.

In Oregon, connecting the cities of Salem and Independence, there is a scenic road

that hugs the curves of the Willamette River. It is called -- fittingly -- River Road. During

the past 10 years housing developments are being put up along that once quiet road --

and the traffic and noise are taking over. River Road will soon just be another busy and

decidedly unattractive street.

The list goes on and on.

Indigenous people around the world are either being killed outright or forced by economic

circumstances to leave the lands of their ancestors.

Many people who decline to accept the spiritual beliefs of others are being bullied, harassed,

and even killed by believers in self-styled "true" religions that have no tolerance for other faiths.

People who merely wish to follow the "old ways" are ridiculed, belittled by "modern thinkers"

who somehow are sure that their 2016 ideas are, for some reason, better than that of people

who have come before or who try to maintain various ideas and ways of thinking that have

come before..

Our future depends on how well we can ascertain and protect those aspects of our world that

are worth if not so much as our "new, modern" ideas, perhaps MORE!

Too many people with too much to do and too many ideas to digest makes for the world of

stress that seems to be afflicting humanity.

To mitigate that stress, we need to look inward to our souls and outward to what is left of our

ailing ecosystems. Then we need to clean our souls and clean our Earth. Our dear mother needs

a bath and lots of tender, loving care!

Steve Walker

Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

EarthSaver