Action

“Never doubt that a few committed people can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
–Margaret Mead

The Earth is not dying, it is being killed. You see it everyday, everywhere you look, and you can’t just sit back and watch it. Direct action is vital to stopping environmental destruction and confronting corporate control. Direct action is taking personal action to directly improve your life, taking personal responsibility and living deliberately. Think of direct action as self-defense: defending yourself and the Earth against the forces that are destroying nature and wildness. Remember, you are a powerful person.

For members of the Church of Deep Ecology, direct action is a form of worship. Whether you’re blocking bulldozers, pulling biotech crops, teaching organic gardening to kids, or biking rather than driving, you need to fill your days, and your nights, with direct action. Direct action to save the Earth is deliberately working toward a vision of species in balance on a healthy, living Earth.

Gather your own food. Walk to work. Eat local, organic food. Turn off the lights. Read by candlelight. Plant a fruit tree. Barter instead of buy. Identify the edible plants in your yard. Wake up with the sun. Sleep when you’re tired. Eat when you’re hungry. Meet your neighbors. Form a community. Compost. Take someone to your favorite wild place. Watch the squirrels. Watch the wasps. Watch the blue jays. Learn from them all.

You can host a straw bale construction workshop or start a bio-diesel cooperative. The more you can do for yourself, by yourself, the less negative impact you will have on the Earth. You can learn the ways of the Earth, and teach these to others. By learning the ways of the Earth, you will learn what’s best for you, and for the Earth. Together we will destroy the class of experts who tell us that they know best, and instead listen to our natural instincts, taking our clues from our surroundings. Define the terms of your own survival, and then take action.

“Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” –Edward Abbey