You Have the Opportunity to Create a Better World… and Have a Wonderful Life Doing It
by Bob Leonard
It may soon be possible for average people to take a ride on a spaceship. Both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are using some of their billions to develop spaceships to transport passengers outside our planet’s atmosphere.
What many people don’t realize is that we already are astronauts aboard Spaceship Earth… and we have been our entire lives. Most of us have acted as passive passengers on a cruise ship… unaware of how the resources we consume daily are produced and delivered, and unaware of where the waste we create goes.
“In the present circumstances, no one can afford to assume that someone else will solve their problems. Each one of us has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction. Good wishes are not sufficient; we must become actively engaged.” – Dalai Lama
It is past time to change how we think about and manage our spaceship. It is time to develop crew consciousness. That is thinking and acting like active crew members on Spaceship Earth by maximizing the limited resources available on the ship, and minimizing the waste we generate.
Our climate crisis is a direct result of how we live on Spaceship Earth: as passive passengers unaware that our spaceship has limited resources, and that our atmosphere is being transformed by the gases civilization emits to power our machines, grow our food, travel around, build our structures, manufacture our clothing and produce all the other artifacts of modern life.
It’s an exciting time to be alive. Young people have a tremendous opportunity to change the course of humanity. To be the change they want to see in the world and to influence others to do the same.
Young people are creative… they haven’t had time to become set in their ways. They see issues and problems from new perspectives. We need creativity to successfully address the complex problems we face.
What if we all acted as crew members? We would work together side by side with the same goal – a healthy, safe, abundant place to live. Different people have different interests, talents and skills. Because climate touches everything, the field is wide open for young people to have exciting lives doing whatever interests them.
How Do I Act as Crew?
By acting as though you live on a spaceship with finite resources. By infusing every consumption decision you make with this awareness. By lowering your use of fossil fuels as much as possible and embracing renewable energy. By developing a sense of unity with the growing number of people who are crew. By acting individually… and collectively.
Think about what interests you. Does it have something to do with the oceans, or food production, or architecture, or transportation, or government, or education? The list is literally endless. Commit to acting as crew, and then determine how you can best leverage your interests and talents. And then research how to garner the knowledge and develop the skills that you’ll need to create a clean, abundant and equitable global society.
