Bob Brown - Planet Earth: Inspirations and thoughts from a planet warrior

I owe my life, fortune and future to planet Earth,

My cradle, my home in the universe.

Everything I have, am, dread or love

is of this beautiful little planet.

I pledge to give Earth a fair go,

to tithe Earth defenders,

to vote only for Earth advocates,

to speak out and stand up for Earth,

to celebrate all life on Earth,

its fins, furs, feathers, flowers, forests,

inseparable,

now,

and for all who will come after me,

for as long as I breathe Earths air.

Bob Brown

Contents

These quotes come from one mere mortals fleeting participation in life on Earth. Some are serious, even sombre, and others more trite. They are a sift from my books, essays and notes and I hope they strike a chord with you, my fellow cogitating mammal my friend, whenever and wherever you are.

We benefit from the wisdom of our elders and I am in debt to them all, not least my parents and teachers, lost from the reach of my hand but forever caught in an indebted heart. These thoughts come from their wisdom, remoulded by my own experiences, to be passed on down the wondrous chain of life.

Above all, I honour the planet which gives us everything we have. To quote Antonio Gaudi, the Barcelonan architect of dreams, all human creation comes from the great book of Nature.

Reuse, recycle or relay the quotes as you will.

May these pages ignite a spark or two to help light your own path to fulfilment in this astonishing Cosmos.

Earth is our miraculous cradle
and we are its momentous mind.

Earths future
depends on our own
human wisdom
generosity
and courage.

Though distant other worlds
may soon give us harbour,
Earth will always be our home
and anchor
in the universe.

In its orbit of the Sun
this blue planet
was perfect for life
and for us.

I can no longer look at the stars
ablaze at night without seeing
the Emu Man (his head is the
coal sack next to the Southern
Cross) who came down and
formed Earth and whose
three-toed tracks along the
Walmadan shore are attributed
to dinosaurs in our own culture.

The most singularly fearful result of
tearaway technology is the worldwide
stockpiling of nuclear, chemical and
other weapons which now threaten all
life on Earth. The human community
has failed to balance its technological
prowess with restraint, compassion and
concern for Earths future. The fight to
save the last of the wilds is more than
a fight for heritage; it is part of the
struggle to ensure human survival itself.

We must change from being
short-sighted exploiters
of Earth to being its
long-sighted guardians.

We billions of people
are a growing horde
devouring
and polluting
the magnificent
biosphere
that keeps us.

The happiness of being in wild and scenic
remnants of our over-populated planet comes
from reconnection with the world that brought
us into being. Homo sapiens evolved as part of
Earths vibrant biosphere, full of possibilities
but dominated by nature. Now, unlike our
fellow species, we are using our growing brain
capacity to manipulate and dominate that
biosphere at the expense of all else.

On Earth we
are altering this
bountiful biosphere
that has nurtured us
from newt to Newton.

There will be no divine
intervention in the destruction
of Earths biosphere.
The onus is on us.

Common sense says we
should tread carefully on
Earth, ensure our fellow
species their own living
room and leave the world
the better for those who
will follow us.

How can we tell
a creature, or the
forest, or the river
about bulldozers,
chainsaws, turbines
and cement?

The corporate domination
of public discourse is throttling
progress towards human
equality or respect for Earths
sustaining biosphere.

In the long run we
shall be our own
children.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix could see that we are all part of
the human continuum: that the next generation
should inherit the Earth in at least as good
a condition as that of our generation.

In considering those who will come after us,
is there any better feeling than knowing that
the world is the better for our having lived?

Damaged biosphere,
damaged us.
No biosphere, no us.

There are good global laws
to protect Earths biosphere but
no global green police contingent
to enforce those laws.

Some see a pile of
woodchips as a job
well done, others as
a forest flattened,
wildlife killed and
the end of Earth
on its way.

Scientists warn that if current projections
of the impact of global warming and
spread of human occupation of the wilds
holds, 25 per cent of Australias birds
will be extinct by the year 2100 and
75 per cent of Earths birds by 2200.
There are perhaps 100 pairs of white
goshawks, Earths only pure white
raptors, left in my island home of
Tasmania. Who amongst our politicians
knows or cares if there are any at all?

When, in 1992, 1575 scientists (including
ninety-nine Nobel laureates) petitioned the
world that serious remedies were required
to halt the destruction of the living fabric of
Earth, their warning was ignored. Had it been
1575 economists warning of a stock market
crash, it would have got banner headlines and
emergency government action. The scientists
warning was reported in small articles inside
some newspapers and not at all in others.

No previous generation has had the power to
destroy the ozone layer, to change the climate
of our planet, to sweep the seas clean of
populations of fish that once numbered tens of
millions, to cut down the great rainforests of the
world, to push thousands of species of animals
and plants over the edge of extinction, to allow
radioactivity to leak from nuclear reactors
making large areas uninhabitable for thousands
of years to come and ultimately, through
nuclear weapons, to reduce life on this planet
to the species that can best cope with a nuclear
winter: insects and grasses. Never before has
short-term thinking so clearly carried with
it the potential for global disaster.

Before the mishap at Three
Mile Island and the disaster
at Chernobyl, critics of
environmental concern were