Dream a little dream

拜讀過星屑醫生〈迷上里安納度，迷上簡樸生活〉，想起在家看 <An Inconvenient Truth> 和 <The 11th Hour> 的兩個晚上，被平實卻真實的畫面和不同科學家數十年的研究喚醒了對地球的愛。早兩天我還跟 Lambert 說我不喜歡香港這地方（這是夠令人震驚的事），是有關政治民生等方面。但我卻深愛著地球，是基於人類和自然那密不可分的關係，那是我深深感受到的。所以，當日我跟盧冠廷唐書琛夫婦有關地球暖化的對談，正搖動著我心深處，我明白必須要回應這個難以接受的事實：若人類繼續如此跟自然對著幹，地球將會離棄我們。待人類都絕跡後，大自然將開始重整自己，回復最原本的和諧生態環境。

What if we choose to eradicate ourselves from this Earth, by whatever means? The Earth goes nowhere. And in time, it will regenerate, and all the lakes will be pristine. The rivers, the waters, the mountains, everything will be green again. It’ll be peaceful. There may not be people, but the Earth will regenerate. And you know why? Because the Earth has all the time in the world, and we don’t. So I think that’s where we’re at, right now.

Oren Lyons
Faithkeeper, Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee, Six Nations, Iroquols Confederacy

當政府透過宣傳片鼓勵我們力行環保，這些看似無關痛癢的環保小動作其實是很重要的。

People need to realize they can do things in their everyday lives. For they’re expecting simple things like keeping tire pressure at the right level, putting in compact fluorescent light bulbs. Personal action is important. This problem of global warming is huge and tremendous and it may seem inconsequential to take your personal action but it is important for all sorts of reasons. Because everybody making a change adds up to something meaningful. Because shifting the way we act and live is part of the solution, long-term. Because if we act in that way, we will demonstrate to our leaders that we do care. That’s what we need from individuals as the next step beyond that, is to build a political will for taking action.

Mathew Petersen
President & CEO, Global Green USA

這兩套記錄片不單單教大家有關環保的大小動作，也不單單用一大堆數字和災害畫面來嚇我們。他們都花大量篇幅說明人類跟大自然起了怎樣的變化，原來都是基於人類發展的基本假設：「人類是萬物之靈」。這陳述可以是中性的，但當人類把自己跟大自然分開，我們只當大自然是我們提取資源的地方，人類和大自然的關係變起了不能回復的變化。

I think it was the humand mind basically that threw us out of balance with the rest of nature. The tragedy is that it was the human mind that was the key to our very survival. Now, when you think that we evolved in Africa about 150,000 years ago, and compared to other animals on the plains then, we weren’t very impressive. We weren’t very many or very big, we weren’t gifted with special senses. The one thing, the key to our survival and our taking over the planet was the human brain. But because the human mind invented the concept of a future, we’re the only animal on the planet that actually was able to recognize we could affect the future by what we do today. We look ahead, recognize where the opportunities are, where the dangers lay, and choose accordingly to survive. That was a great survival strategy of our species.

David Suzuki
Scientist, Environmentalist, Broadcaster

I think one of the reasons why it’s so difficult for people to get it that we’re connected with nature and to even understand the fundamentals of ecoliteracy is because it flies in the face of the assumptions of our culture. Our culture is built on the assumption that we are the superior life form on Earth. That we are separate from all other life forms. That we have been given dominion over all other life forms.

Thom Hartmann
Author, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

But even to think that we’re separated from nature is somehow a thinking disorder. You can’t be separated from nature. Why we think that way is the interesting thing. What happens in the mind that likes to think that it’s separated from nature? Does that mean that the mind, or the human being, thinks he’s now more free?

James Hillman
Psychologist

We’re totally living in disharmony with the planet. Not just the planet. Beyond the planet. We’re far beyond the planet now. We’re zooming around Mars and all of that exploration, which is marvelous. But it’s not really affecting our attitudes. I think our attitudes are based on selfishness, based on the economic situation we have, based on the politics which we have. I mean, those are the– How many governments in the world have really taken the environmental crisis for what it is? Very few. Certainly not the United States.

Reverend James Parks Morton
Dear Emeritus, The Catherdral of St. John the Divine

We live in a human-created environment where it’s very easy to think we’re different from other creatures. We’re smart, we create our own habitat, we don’t need nature. It’s the economy that’s the most important thing. And in focusing on the economy I think we’ve forgotten these ancient truths. These ancient wisdoms that kept us plugged into nature and understanding that “Gee, if we do something to offend the natural world we’ll pay a price for that. We have to treat nature much more gently.” That’s the lesson that we’ve forgotten and that we’re paying a price for today.

David Suzuki
Scientist, Environmentalist, Broadcaster

A fundamental illusion in the world is that people are separate from nature. When the reality is that we are part of nature. In fact, we are nature. That’s probably the most fundamental misunderstanding in the world that’s causing all this havoc.

Kenny Ausubel
Founder, Bioneers

或許你會問：我能作甚麼？科學家告訴我們不是環保小貼士，而是一些有關價值觀，有關消費主義、減慢發展、簡約生活。

We need to be slower, and we need to be smarter. Slow movement means disengaging from consumerism as the main avenue of experience. It doesn’t reject any consumption, but it says: “We’re not gonna live out lives mediated by the marketplace or what’s being sold. We won’t make our identities and meaning based on that. Instead of the long commute, the bigger car, the bigger house, let’s enjoy the local produce, have time to ourselves, understand that things are thieves of time.” Because the more things you have, the more time you have to spend working, the more your life is chained to a rhythm to get those things.

The other element is the smart element. And there I think we have to reintroduce a term, an old term before the industrial revolution, frugality. Frugality does not mean poverty. Frugality means the wise use of resources. As I said earlier on, the meaning of the industrial revolution was that nature was turned into a resource that was considered endlessly abundant. It’s not true.

Nathan Gardels
Editor, New Perspectives Quarterly

更重要的是回復人類與大自然的關係，那橋樑一直都在，甚至簡單得不能叫聰明的人類信服，那就是愛。

There are two things that can perhaps save the world. One would be the mastery of one’s kindness to oneself and a big heart. And the other would be understanding your passion for place for where you live, and really loving the place that you live in.

Peter Warshall
Ecologist, Whole Earth Catalogue

So I see a world in the future in which we understand that all life is related to us, and we treat that life with great humility and respect. I see us, as well, as social creatures. And when I began to look back and say: “What is the fundamental bottom line for us as social creatures?” I couldn’t believe it because it seemed so hippie-dippie, but it was love. Love is the force that makes us fully human.

David Suzuki
Scientist, Environmentalist, Broadcaster

早陣子跟愛蓮在電話裏分享環保議題，她告訴我她在 National Geographic Channel 看了 <Six Degrees Could Change The World>。早前我在 HMV 找到了，價錢十分昂貴，所以朋友們如果有興趣了解多一些關於地球暖化的事，可以約我吃飯聊天，我十分樂意借你們以上提到的三套記錄片。

大家都為地球出點力！