Environmental Consciousness

Returning to Cameroon, 7 years after my initial visit, I was struck by the sight of huge, felled trees on their way to ports where many would be shipped to Europe, Asia and other global markets. I also learned through conversation with community members about an iron mine that is displacing elephants and driving them into villages and croplands. I discovered the mining company is Chinese state owned and makes elevators, industrial kitchen equipment and other machinery shipped globally. When I am stepping into an elevator in the USA, I am not thinking about elephants and villages in Cameroon.

 

These two impressions brought to the forefront of my consciousness two things:

1. We are living in a global economy but rarely know who or what our choices are connected to.

2. This information is not really new to me but when it is not in front of me, I tend to lose the sense of urgency and will for taking action that I could feel when I was faced with it in Cameroon.

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To Action

The second part of the inspiration for this project comes from both my biographical experiences and conversations I had upon returning to the USA. Today we hear all the time about climate change and life-threatening environmental degradation. Knowing about problems is part of the solution, but in order to be sustainable in the long term I believe we must feel connected so that we can do something about it. The knowledge of this environmental grief without a way to digest and transform it can lead to a sense of hopelessness, shame, anger, checking out, or depression.  Having the support of others has been essential to keep me in action. Thus, the second part of this project’s intention came from my perspective that there actually are a million ways that we can heal the planet and that the most important thing is to support each other to step in and do it in the ways that each of us can. Having consciousness about the realities of our environmental and social impacts is paramount and rather than letting the weight of this stop us we can support each-other to transform this consciousness into meaningful and positive activity.

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