Earth Day 2011

EarthDay 2011

Earth Day 2011Be the Alter Not the Alternative

by Wesley Cabral
COO,
Earthbody

Earthbody, like many other companies around the world is committed to business practices that serve the health of both the earth and the communities we work in. This practice of being awake and conscious of how our decisions have a far reaching ripple effect gained tremendous ground in 1969 with the birth of Earth Day.

“I am convinced that all we need to do to…stem the tide of environmental disaster is to present the facts clearly and dramatically. I am proposing a national teach-in on the crisis of the environment to be held next spring on every university campus across the Nation. The crisis is so imminent, in my opinion, that every university should set aside 1 day in the school year-the same day across the Nation-for the teach-in.”
—-  Senator Gaylord Nelson, October 8th, 1969

Nelson’s inspiration for a national teach-in, later to be named Earth Day, was because of a devastating oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California in 1969.
41 years since the invocation of Earth Day, what have we learned? Oil spills still happen, animals are still endangered; coal, petroleum and nuclear energy remain our most popular sources of electricity. Many still ponder, “Is global warming for real?”

An inspirational friend of ours, Jagatjoti Singh Khalsa, wrote of his teacher,
“At one point he asked me in his thick Punjabi accent, ‘Do you know the sacred secret of success in this lifetime?’ I offered several excellent answers to his question: the remembrance of God, the repetition of mantra, good hygiene and such. “When I finished, he looked at me and said, ‘Son, be the alter, not the alternative.’ And again he repeated,
Be the alter, not the alternative.”

To me, this message elegantly reveals that to bring about great change, one must serve rather than resist.

Transformation is a still lake at dawn amidst a great forest.

The movement to transform the earth, to honor sustainability and wield creativity as a tool that can save the world is 41 years in the making. Perhaps, it was moving long before Nelson made a call to serve the Earth and the communities we live in. His suggestion was that we teach. Teach an entire generation about what is happening in the world that we are not paying attention to.

Teaching remains one of the all-powerful tools in shaping the world we live in. Our commitment at Earthbody is to serve you in maintaining health and teach you ways to deepen the relationship you have to your body. When the body is healthy, your capacity to serve joyfully and to be awake to the world is unlimited.

Earth Day is a call to learn, to teach one another, to enlighten the next generation and to serve. By serving the earth, we heal our bodies, by healing our bodies; we begin to understand how to serve the earth.

You are a source of vast energy. Happiness is contained in an acorn and love is all you need.

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