I have a vision for a future world where people recognize themselves as part of the ecosystem, and endeavour to serve and protect ecosystems as much as ecosystems serve us. Everybody has the right to grow up surrounded by nature and continue the cultural traditions that rely on healthy ecosystems, to foster a deep sense of identity and connection to their community. This means that protecting the environment goes hand in hand with protecting and listening to the voices of the people that live there. Including Indigenous voices in conservation efforts is critical to reverse generations of governmental neglect and has the potential to introduce new solutions by offering different perspectives. I think educating our youth on these issues is critical to encourage a new generation to not shy away from more difficult conversations that don't necessarily have an easy solution. In cases where action is needed to protect the environment that may negatively affect people's livelihoods, everybody that will be involved in the potential repercussions needs to have a say in the decision making; and the relational values of people must have as much weight and importance as the economic ones. True justice is only possible if everyone can make their case and have their perspectives respected. By encouraging respectful relationships with other humans, we are better able to look after our planet.
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This is such a beautiful post, Amy. I especially like your vision of people seeing themselves as part of the ecosystem and carry a sense of responsibility for the ecosystem, in turn. I could not agree more. The Relational Values resonate a lot with me and I hope to internalize them to a greater extent.
Hi Amy! I couldn't help but think of The Lorax movie as I was reading your post HAHA I truly hope that we don't get to the point where our future generations aren't surrounded by the beautiful nature around us. I fully support your ideas in this post and feel that educating our youths so that they'll speak up one day is a great start :)
Great vision! I love your idea of people recognizing themselves as part of the ecosystem.
Great ideas, our society feels so disconnected from the environment. Greater work needs to be made in schools, in homes, and in the workplaces where individuals are encourage to spend time in nature and view themselves as part of the ecological world rather than separate from it.
I also believe that educating our youth is a critical step in progress. However, I think that we need to do more than just shift the burden to the next generation. It's a point where I always struggle as well, because it would be so easy to just bring up our hopes for a fresh and idealistic mind of kids and young adults, but it would be even better if we can make the situation for them already much better than it is for us.
Respecting and listening to different worldviews is so important!