Eco-Choices that Embrace the World

What is an eco-choice? A choice embracing the living-world—that is seen and unseen, heard and unheard, known and unknown, loved and unloved.

Albert Einstein after World War II urged us to “widen our compassion” to include other persons who are different and also the natural world.

As we face a climate crisis of our own making, which is accelerating species extinctions and threatening human life on earth, we need to embrace the other species that make up our “living-world.” Not only animals and plants we love, but also unseen, unheard, unknown, and unloved species. These species, too, contribute to the earth’s biosphere. Therefore, we should be grateful and have compassion on them.

The carbon emissions that humans have released into the atmosphere will continue to warm the earth. Seas will rise, rainfall will bring floods in some places and drought in others. The choices we once had to prevent these disasters are no longer available. Many species will migrate to more favored climates, as will millions of people.

To survive we must reduce our waste as well as our pollution. To revive the seas, air, and soil we must live within the constraints of the earth’s evolving ecosystems. To thrive we may need to discover that our “living-world” is conscious and continues beyond our physical death.

How might you respond to animals, trees, plants, fungi, and bacteria who share your living-world? Are you hearing their cries of distress? Do you recognize their delight in just being alive? What eco-choices would widen your compassion?