Last night I had the pleasure and privilege of taking my twelve-year-old son to his first concert: U2’s 360 Tour in Toronto. Not only did we have a fantastic view of the spaceship-sized set, but with the dome of the Rogers Centre open on a warm moonlit night and a direct view of the light show from the CN Tower, I couldn’t have imagined a more impressive first-concert experience for him.Perspective is an interesting thing: with more than 60,000 people in attendance and our birds-eye view of the scene, I was reminded of how very tiny we truly are, relative to the size of the Earth. So small in fact, that in many ways we appear completely insignificant, compared to the massive scale of this planet that we call home. But is our presence really that insignificant?Midway through the concert, the LED screens projected a video message from Commander Mark Kelly up in the International Space Station: “7 Billion – One Nation – Imagination – It’s a Beautiful Day”. A beautiful message indeed to his fellow Earthlings, although from his perspective 200 miles up, we human beings – all 6.9 billion of us - are quite invisible to the naked eye....much like how, down here at ground level, many parasites are quite invisible to our naked eye.Parasites are organisms that live in or on another organism (their host) and benefit by deriving nutrients at the host's expense, giving nothing in return. There’s a disturbing parallel between how parasites survive and how humans survive, “deriving nutrients” from Mother Earth, at her expense. Before U2 took the stage, statistics (that I now wish I had recorded) revolved around the screen showing unsettling figures such as the number of hectares of forests we cut down this year alone (it was either millions or billions), and the number of days left until we run out of oil (it equates to only 42 years). Those of us in the developed world use a staggering amount of water every day compared to the rest of the world. It pains me to recognize how many of our actions are undeniably parasitic. Mother Earth simply cannot sustain us indefinitely if we continue to take from her in this manner.The good news is that we can be a smart bunch, and many of us have jumped aboard the “green movement” bandwagon. That’s a good start, although ditching our plastic water bottles and using re-useable grocery bags is just a start. The other good news is that there’s about 5900 times more energy hitting the Earth from the Sun than humans are currently using. If we can harness that energy, and use it and other green energy sources to sustain our needs rather than continuing to pillage from our gracious host as we’ve done to-date, we may be able to continue in a more symbiotic relationship. There is much to do, but if every one of us commits to doing our own small part, and at least some of us commit to doing a little more than just our part, we can work together to make this beautiful blue planet a safe and enduring hospitable home.For some thoughts and ideas about what you can do to improve the well-being of our planet and your own well-being at the same time, watch this week’s episode of Optimal Living when we discuss Environmental Health on Rogers Cable 20 with multiple new airing times across Waterloo Region, including today at 1:30 & 9:00pm, Wednesday at 7:30pm, Friday at 12:00am, Saturday at 10:30am and Sunday at 11:00pm. Check your local listings for airing times in the surrounding areas of Cambridge, Brantford, Guelph and Stratford.So…what can YOU do to take better care of your environment?
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