The experts of the world, from all walks of life, tell me that it is all over; already too late to save the planet, our species, and all fellow species that rely on clean food, air, water, and a habitable planet. How could we both get to this sorry state, and deny it, while the evidence swills around us?

This is the truth. Life on earth as we know it, is over. The forecasts have been understated, we are past the tipping point, approaching or at the point of no return.
We have destroyed our planet and any dignity we aspired to as conscious intelligent creatures. Sorry.

Yet I am sure you don't want dead seas, barren earth, polluted water, mass famine and increased 'natural disasters'; or war, inhumanity and hostility as we fight over the last remaining necessities, any more than I.

I am sure you love this precious blue jewel that gave birth to us, that gently spins us through time and space, that nurtures us and our vital fellow travelers, the family of life.

Can we rely on governments, politicians, big business, opinion leaders, purveyors of hype, organised crime, television chat shows and others powerful, to make this urgent change? Obviously not, or they would be doing it now.

Much of the world's arable land is going under the sea. The oceans, seas and rivers that remain alive will become unviable; pestilence and famine will increase and we can go quietly and impotently, or in agony, starvation, despair and defeat.

To survive, we have to change the way we do almost everything and we have to take control of our own future. How dare we allow the planet and our future be taken away from us? How dare we sit here blinking stupidly as our common human dreams die in front of us?

I still believe in us; that we can save our cherished planet and our very species, with our intelligence and hard work and the personal bravery and inventiveness that has carried us so incredibly through the ages so far - and clean it up, stop the bad destructive habits that inevitably hurt us all, and think anew.

The rules are easy - decay and death, or health and survival. And it takes us all, the ordinary people of the planet, that is all we have, just us; those with no vested interest in its rape and destruction, and our own downfall and humiliation; and to get together and stop this.

And how do we do it? We just do it. We turn off the offending polluters, change the destructive and immoral practices, we clean up the environment. We use our intelligence and ingenuity, and we work together as citizens of the one planet.

And how do we pay for it, if pay we must? We spend the defence budgets, in every country. What greater defence spending than defending our very survival. And what an opportunity to also get it right this time - build in a few safeguards, like ethics, responsibility, equity and mutual respect.

I personally am putting my faith in every single one of my fellow humans, everywhere on this planet, as you in turn are relying on me, and the rest of us; as our children and future generations are relying on us. It is an important time in the life of man, this one.

The final battle to save the planet has begun and I hope we are up to the task.
Against all the evidence, I believe in us; that we can be brave, bold, intelligent, loving and beautiful, and at this vital time in the history of the planet, think big and shine as we never shone before - and to think as big as we need to think; past our wallets, our front doors, past the borders of our countries, and see us as we are, a little planet of people, in a dark and distant corner of space - vulnerable and beautiful and about to take a great step forward to a safer, more enlightened and kinder time.

The following essays and excerpts have been chosen to succour those already weeping, and inspire and motivate the rest of us to real heroic deeds in the name of human decency, intelligence and universal relevance.

Lesley Pocock
Publisher - New Paradigm Journal

Personal Perspective
by Caroline Pembroke, Member of the Environment Committee of the United Nations Association in Western Australia

The Primal Perspective Metamorphosis of the Human Mind
by James L. Anderson Saltspring Island British Columbia Canada