“I’ve often heard people say: ‘I wonder what it would feel like to be on board a spaceship,’ and the answer is very simple. What does it feel like? That’s all we have ever experienced. We are all astronauts on a little spaceship called Earth.”

~ R. Buckminster Fuller

We don’t need to save the planet. The planet will go on without us. Damaged? Yes. In deplorable conditions? Yes, considering all the plundering, trashing, contaminating, and destroying that we have done and continue doing. But it will continue to exist after we become extinct. So, we don’t need to save the planet. What we need to do is to save life on this planet before it is too late. And, in order to do so, we need, first and foremost, to change our minds.

When we say that we want to save the planet, we don’t realize that our thinking is limited and our vision is myopic. If we look deeply within ourselves, we will see that we are not really committed to saving the planet; what we are most concerned about is preserving our comfortable way of living. In our naiveté and ignorance, we imagine that by making some minor adjustments we will be able to continue living as we have always lived. But from everything we know about the consequences of climate change, this is a fantasy. We don’t see that in order to save the planet, or, better said, save life on this planet, our current way of life must die. In order for us, and for all other life forms to survive, we will need to radically change the ways we have been living.

Our vision of the future is clouded by our attachment to our way of life. Sadly, we believe that we can continue doing what we have always done. We trust that through our inventiveness we will be able to solve the problems that we ourselves have created. We trust our ingenuity to save us. But can’t we see that this way of thinking—including our excessive confidence in science and technology—is what created the problems we are facing? Can we pause and see that although science and technology brought about great improvements they also, in many ways, brought us to our current predicament? Can we see that every invention brought with it another problem?

We need to stop blindly and unquestioningly worshipping science and technology, and make a thorough assessment of the advantages and the problems they brought about, so we do not continue making the same mistakes. We need a new culture, a new spirituality, one capable of bringing about a better life for our children.

We are irrationally spending too much time, energy, and resources dealing with the consequences, not tackling the causes of our predicament. Henry David Thoreau said, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

Donald Ardell wrote a beautiful story titled ”A Contemporary Fable: Upstream/Downstream” that helps us reflect on our inability to focus on what is really important.

It was many years ago that the villagers of Downstream recall spotting the first body in the river. Some old timers remember how Spartan were the facilities and procedures for managing that sort of thing. Sometimes, they say, it would take hours to pull 10 people from the river, and even then only a few would survive. 

Though the number of victims in the river has increased greatly in recent years, the good folks of Downstream have responded admirably to the challenge. Their rescue system is clearly second to none: most people discovered in the swirling waters are reached within 20 minutes—many less than 10. Only a small number drown each day before help arrives—a big improvement from the way it used to be. 

Talk to the people of Downstream and they’ll speak with pride about the new hospital by the edge of the waters, the flotilla of rescue boats ready for service at a moment’s notice, the comprehensive health plans for coordinating all the manpower involved, and the large numbers of highly trained and dedicated swimmers always ready to risk their lives to save victims from the raging currents. Sure it costs a lot but, say the Downstreamers, what else can decent people do except to provide whatever is necessary when human lives are at stake. 

Oh, a few people in Downstream have raised the question now and again, but most folks show little interest in what’s happening Upstream. It seems there’s so much to do to help those in the river that nobody’s got time to check how all those bodies are getting there in the first place. That’s the way things are, sometimes.

The people living Downstream do all they can to save the lives of those drowning in the river, but they do not go upstream to understand what is causing the problem. Similarly, we’re so busy dealing with the consequences that we are not putting the same resolve, effort, and resources into confronting the causes of our ecological crisis. We are already spending, or planning on spending, extravagant amounts of money to deal with the consequences—such as building colossal sea walls or mega recycling plants—but we’re not tackling the main causes of our predicament. We need to pause and look deeply in order to understand that overpopulation and a mindset that sees persistent growth as something desirable are the factors that lead to over extraction of resources, overproduction and overconsumption of goods, and the gigantic amount of waste and pollution that is contaminating our planet.

While looking at the current state of affairs, I consider it important to remember what took place half-a-century ago. According to the Club of Rome:

In 1965, Aurelio Peccei, an Italian industrialist, made a speech that proved inspirational to Alexander King, the Scottish Head of Science at the OECD. The two found that they shared a profound concern for the long-term future of humanity and the planet, what they termed the modern ‘predicament of mankind’.

Three years later, King and Peccei convened a meeting of European scientists in Rome. . . . At the group’s first major gathering in 1970, Jay Forrester, a systems professor at MIT, offered to use computer models he had developed to study the complex problems which concerned the group more rigorously. An international team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology began a study of the implications of unbridled exponential growth. They examined the five basic factors that determine and, in their interactions, ultimately limit growth on this planet—population, agricultural production, non-renewable resource depletion, industrial output, and pollution. 

In 1972, the Club’s first major Report, The Limits to Growth was published. It sold millions of copies worldwide, creating media controversy and also impetus for the global sustainability movement. This call for objective, scientific assessment of the impact of humanity’s behavior and use of resources, still defines the Club of Rome today. While Limits had many messages, it fundamentally confronted the unchallenged paradigm of continuous material growth and the pursuit of endless economic expansion. Fifty years later, there is no doubt that the ecological footprint of humanity substantially exceeds its natural limits every year. The concerns of the Club of Rome have not lost their relevance.

The metrics applied to human and planetary progress must change from the outdated linear economic model that promotes GDP growth at all costs. The economic system needs a greater focus on social and environmental well-being, recognizing a balance between people, prosperity and planetary boundaries. More than fifty years have passed since the launch of the The Limits to Growth report by the Club of Rome. Its key message was that a combination of resource depletion and pollution, if unchecked, would ultimately bring down the global economy. This is the situation today.

Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” If we continue following the same path then we will always arrive at the same destination. In order to deal with our current predicaments and transcend them, we must change our old mindsets and bring about new, fresh, different ways of thinking. We need to get rid of our obsession with growth and consumerism. We are extracting too much, producing too much, consuming too much, and wasting too much. Currently we are like individuals who have a binge eating disorder. We are eating compulsively and overeating is threatening our existence. Humanity needs to adhere to a regimen that can restore its health. Humanity needs a diet!

The majority of us are not really aware of the magnitude of the problems that are currently unfolding on our planet.  We don’t realize the enormity of the challenges we will be facing in the near future, and how fast they will be manifesting if we continue doing what we have been doing. We have not fully comprehended the radical changes that are necessary in order for life on this planet not to become extinct.

We—those of us living in the more developed areas of the world—don’t seem to understand the personal sacrifices that we will need to make in order to save life on Earth. And, worst of all, we don’t seem to be ready to pay the necessary price, including relinquishing the comfortable but life-threatening lifestyles that we have created for ourselves. The truth is that we have to look at the regional and personal concentration of wealth and do what is necessary to fix the inequality in our world.

The Earth is a living organism, and we, human beings, are mere molecules of this one organism. If we destroy the ability of the Earth to sustain life, we will die. Period. The current hyper-consumerism and obsession with short-term gains, that has led to the incessant extraction of resources, production of goods, and careless waste and pollution, is suicidal. The selfish and mindless human activity that has been wounding our planet and endangering all life on it has brought us to a precarious point. It is clear that this irresponsible and destructive set of behaviors must stop. It is clear that it must be replaced by a socially and environmentally responsible code of conduct based on a long-term commitment with preservation, sustainability, and social justice. 

We need new mindsets, new prevailing ideas, new paradigms. We must wake up from the dream state we are in and see reality as it is. We need to expand our views, and change the consumeristic values we hold, the materialistic goals we pursue, and the hedonistic choices we make. We need to evolve and embrace a new cosmic perspective, and act as one species whose members solve their problems practicing cooperation and solidarity. If not, we are not going to survive.

Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher of the 17th century, said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” I believe this statement to be true. I teach Mindfulness Meditation and Mindful Living in order to help all of us, myself included, to journey from insanity to sanity, from the prisons of selfishness to the open fields of selflessness. I teach mindfulness to help liberate ourselves from the suffering caused by ignorance, greed, and ill will. I teach mindfulness to expand the wisdom that reveals that the practice of compassion, loving kindness, and generosity is what will save us. I teach mindfulness for us to realize that in order to save the world, we must love it first. It is by loving the planet that we will save it.

By changing our minds and hearts—by expanding our views—we will change our cultures, our societies, and the ways we have organized ourselves to live on this planet. Then we will stand a chance of saving us from ourselves.

The good news is that a new consciousness is arising and with it a new idea of what a good life is. The current idea—that a good life is one of self-indulgence, over-consumption, exclusivity, and isolation—is being replaced by the idea that a good life is one of nonviolently connecting and supporting others on their journeys to become the best that they can be. The old idea—that we need to compete against, defeat, and marginalize others, in order to have as many pleasant experiences,  accumulate as much wealth and as many toys as possible—has already shown its absurdity, and is being put aside. The rising paradigm is that a good life is one of cooperation, responsible consumption, minimum waste, and respect for all living beings; a life in community, where everyone feels included and is happy to be a contributing crewmember of Spaceship Earth.

Adlai Stevenson once wrote, “We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable resources of air and soil. Our safety is conditional on peace and security on this spaceship. We succeed not to be annihilated due to the care, effort and love we give to our fragile vehicle.”

Piero Falci teaches Mindfulness Meditation and Mindful Living, leads Insight Meditation Silent Retreats, and organizes Silent Peace Walks. Piero is an educator who believes that the inner work that leads to personal awakening and transformation is indispensable to create a better world. He aspires to live a life that matters and hopes to inspire others to do the same. He is devoted to helping individuals have insights that may expand selflessness and compassion and lead to the growth of kindness and care for all sentient beings and the natural environment. He is a promoter of peace who believes in advancing the idea that Heaven is here if we want it to be. This essay is from his latest 3-book series Mindfulness for a Better Mind, Life, and World. For more information, visit www.PieroFalci.com