There is so much wrong with the way that people behave on earth that it is easy to consider us a misfit species or children of an ill-intentioned god.

Some say that we are probably not of this earth, alien, and that we do not belong here, that, as hell is on earth, therefore, heaven has to be somewhere else. I think that all these hypothesis are distractions that inhibit any change to the status quo.

For the past six years, I have been researching and writing on environmental issues. Most of these environmental issues continued to deteriorate year on year as we persist to ignore the underlying causes. Other issues are politically fabricated narratives that I regret contributing to.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that there cannot possibly be any real progress on the safeguarding and restoring of the ecosystems that sustain life on earth unless we first sort ourselves out.

Our thoughts on the origin of all creation, of course, including humans, define who we are and why we are and, yet,  most of us ignore this critical understanding and live in an amoral vacuum. It is little wonder we cause mayhem at every turn.

Changing the error of our ways is not an impossible task. All the difficulties, unhappiness and suffering we experience, and that we have inflicted on other species, are man-made. What we have done we can stop doing. Anybody who says that this cannot be done betrays a vested interest and a narcissistic frame of mind.

Children are born of man and woman into families and this is a good thing. No family is perfect and that is fine. Creation is of necessity work in progress. There is much love going around in families. This is both extraordinary and precious, considering the sometimes glaring imperfections.  It is in the family context that people have the possibility to experience other people, family members, as being more important than themselves.

Loss of ego is a virtue. Love is a divine quality that we are fortunate to experience. The family unit must, therefore, be valued and protected. Family bonds cannot actually be broken as they are a reflection of divine expression but a lot of misery can be inflicted by trying to do this.

Families grow into extended families and many families form a community. Communities make up nations. Nations that are allowed to organically form and grow in this way will survive and thrive. They are resilient nations that cannot easily be captured or controlled.

Children are our future. This is clear. Children need security, roots and a moral compass. This will give them meaning and purpose.

The earth can provide for every human being’s need but not for every human being’s greed- David Marinelli

Children should be allowed to express themselves, they should be allowed to question and challenge while being instructed on the accumulated knowledge coming from past generations. Children need order and stability. Schools are not the place, if anywhere is, where we should be experimenting with disruptive ideologies.

The earth can provide for every human being’s need but not for every human being’s greed. Nowhere is the greed for money and power more entrenched than in the global military, financial, industrial and political complexes. We should not, however, be too quick to point our finger in righteous indignation at others as we all have a dark side to overcome. The challenge starts at home.

There are a number of reasons why injustice exists in the world. It is simplistic to blame evil on bad people. Those of us who relinquish their ability to make informed choices and who think it is more convenient to obey and follow blindly will almost certainly suffer unintended consequences and bring these upon others.

The part which is hard to comprehend is when the innocent are made to suffer or die. The latter situations could in most cases have been avoided had other people along the way opted to exercise their God-given discretion rather than choose to follow a dictated script.

Creating order from chaos, or, in other words, being a force for good in the world, requires humility, sacrifice and restraint. It requires an understanding that all life is a divine expression. These are the qualities we should look for in our leaders. We should not be afraid of differing opinions and should always talk to our adversaries in order to find common ground. Governments should cultivate peace and dialogue. We should put a stop to the culture of forever wars and enemy-based politics.

In his 2023 Earth Day message, US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr started by saying:

“Environmental protection binds us to our own humanity and to all of creation. The natural world connects us to the 10,000 generations of human beings who lived before us and ultimately connects us to God. God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organised religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art, music, literature  and poetry. But nowhere with such detail and grace, colour  and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we’re diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is as human beings.”

As we stand in this desolate landscape devoid of empathy, meaning or purpose, may we find the will, strength and means to get back to our divinely intended path, Amen.