We Don’t Own This Earth

Happy Earth Day! Earth Day has always felt very special. I think that could be due to the timing. 

Being that Earth Day falls in late April, as the trees start to bud, and the sun grows hotter, it feels like hope. Winter’s feel so long and can really drag out. 

The start of spring feels hopeful and playful as the vibrancy of nature returns. The straggly brown twigs fill with bright greens and light flowers. It’s a beauty to observe. 

I grew up in the woods, surrounded by curious greenery and frolicsome wildlife. Nature, to me, has always been something that’s been needed to treasure. 

“We Can Run” by the Grateful Dead highlights our need as a society to work together and patch up the wounds we have left on our planet. Every human shares this home and every future human will need this home. 

“We don’t own this place, though we act as if we did. It’s a loan from the children of our children’s kids. The actual owners haven’t even been born yet.” (We Can Run)

This lyric holds so much weight. Especially now, as I am in college, expanding my mind, introducing myself to new experiences and people, and learning more about the world, I can feel a lurking doom. 

It is true, we do not own this place. If our children’s children’s kids are the true owners of this planet, we have done an awful job borrowing this gift. 

However, I don’t think normal people, like you and I, are to blame but rather the corporations that are destroying our lands and seas through massive emissions of pollution. 

This pollution exists everywhere, within the air, soil, and water. It even lives within the sounds of the streets and disrupts the ecosystems of wildlife through excessive light. 

“Of all the possible worlds we only got one we gotta ride on it.” (We Can Run)

We only do have one planet. It should be obvious that we cannot reverse all of the damage we have created to this globe. 

But, with only one gift of the earth to treasure, how do we fix the degradation of the home we hold a sense of responsibility over? I do not know the answer. 

Treasure earth today and every day. Cherish the trees, enjoy the worms that litter the sidewalk after it rains, and keep it clean.