Last month on the 28th of March, 2014, we celebrated the Earth Hour. If you were busy or somehow forgot about this annual hourly event, then it is the perfect lifestyle cliché. But if you did realize that later and still did not do anything about it, then you really need to grasp the concept better.
The Earth Hour
The earth hour isn’t some preliminary entrance exam which can only be attended during the specified time frame. It requires you to stay informed and take some time out of your relatively important duties in order to participate in some creative, sustainable and conscious activities, not just during that hour, but any time of the day, and hopefully every single day throughout the year.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
The Earth Day
Less than a month later, which is today, the 22nd of April, is the celebration of a much bigger and older annual event that started in 1970 as the Earth Day. For 20 years the event was celebrated only in the United States. Then in 1990, Earth day became an International movement, which is now the largest secular holiday in the world and is celebrated by more than a half billion people every year. Though it is not equally welcomed by all parts of the world, hopefully in the future we can see a global unification in support for such events, or rather, for our planet.
The Earth Anthem
Also, like each and every nation has their own unique anthem, a song exists, to unify the populace of the world. This is considered as the Earth Anthem, a single hymn that will bring the people of the world together and inspire collective consciousness and global responsibility.
This idea was brought forward by Indian diplomat and poet Abhay Kumar. He wrote an anthem as a tribute to Mother Earth, which was first announced on 3rd June 2013, in India, on the occasion of the World Environment Day. Since then it has been implemented by various institutions and nations including India’s CBSE board for educational purposes.
A proposal was also made by the Indian poet to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) for an official Earth Anthem which would be finalized through a global online competition. Here is the Earth Anthem created by Abhay Kumar:
“Our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl
the most beautiful planet in the universe
our cosmic oasis, cosmic blue pearl
all the continents and the oceans of the world
united we stand as flora and fauna
united we stand as species of one earth ”
This work beautifully serves to broaden our perspective and remind us of the interconnectedness we share with each other, despite the distances, cultures, and borders.
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
– Franklin D Roosevelt
Not only is the anthem long overdue, but also are our actions. We should realize that the planet is not our keepsake that we may build and destroy as we fancy. It is a natural endowment that has been handed down to us, for which we bear the responsibility to pass on to the next generation, which will inherit this legacy along with the duty to bestow this grand gift to their descendants.
“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”
The earth is our home, a place where we all live and it is our duty to look after it for our children.
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