Happy Mamma Earth Day
One Little Dot
How can something this big be invisible?
The environment is everywhere and yet it isn't visible
Maybe if we saw it, we would see it's not invincible
And have to take responsibility as individuals
How can something this big be invisible?
If it's all around us, it should show itself on pure principle
The scientists are certain that the damage is residual
And climate change data's reaching levels that are critical
Yet somehow that's political
We argue over math
Our citizens are too cynical to believe in facts
We make excuses and hold on to the recent past
We don't wanna sacrifice, so we refuse to ask
I grew up in a city, it's all I ever knew
So even now I have nothing to compare it to
I have to hit the park to see more than a tree or two
I have to visit nature like it's in a fucking zoo
But California was wild before the parking lots
Before the mass malls, before designer shops
Before the strip clubs, before the sea change
When mountain lions roamed freely over freeways
Before the fast food, before the freeze-frames
We live around a bunch of dead things these days
It's not an argument for better or worse
It's an observation on how we've been treating Mother Earth
See, we protect what is ours
My land
My life
My house
My kids
My wife
My dog
My car
My country
My culture
But when it comes to nature our perspective is external
The planet
The forest
The ocean
The sky
The mountains
The valleys
Always the
never mine
If it's not me
Never mind
I'm too busy all the time
And without the ownership we ignore the warning signs
Just look at all the species on the planet that are dying
The coral reefs, the honeybees, mysteriously dying
One-fourth of all the mammals that exist are dying
A third of all amphibians are at the risk of dying
We're on a path a mass extinction, it's almost like we're trying
'Cause we're relying on an atmosphere that we've been frying
I could use more statistics but you'd probably think I'm lying
Because over half the politicians we elect deny them
Well since when did their opinions outweigh the science?
I thought experiments are fundamentally unbiased
Capitalism uses nature as its example and excuse for competition
The only problem is, we've removed it from the ecosystem
Profit and balance in the market are attainable
But growth without a conscience is completely unsustainable
A lion doesn't kill all the gazelles
Why do we have to have it all to ourselves?
Pretty soon, there'll be nothing left but concrete and cars
And when you see an animal, it'll be like seeing a movie star
The planet
The forest
The ocean
The sky
The mountains
The valleys
Always the
Never mine
If it's not me
Never mind
I'm too busy all the time
And without the ownership we ignore the warning signs
Our planet
Our forest
Our ocean
Our sky
Our mountains
Our valleys
Always we
Always mine
My planet
My forest
My ocean
My sky
My mountains
My valleys
Always we
Always mine
Always ours
Always yours
One little dot in trillions of stars
One little dot, it's all that we've got
We just forgot that none of it's ours
We just forgot that all of it's ours
One little dot in trillions of stars.
- Share with permission from Inquire Within by IN-Q
Happy Earth Day, Mamma Nature
May you be heard
May you be seen
May you be loved
One of the founding principles of Pause Breathe Reflect is compassion. Compassion for Mother Earth and our partners, and we source our products from countries and companies that honor this principle. Like U.S.A.-based AllMade Apparel, which supplies our tees and saves an average of 145 gallons of water, reduces 4 kg of CO2 emissions, and uses an average of 6 water bottles per t-shirt and Threadbare Print House in Eugene, which uses algae ink to cut down on fossil fuels.
As one of our P.B.R. Sangha members shared, "slipping on my tee feels like a warm hug."
Yes, it does. We hope it feels like compassion.