Part I: Earth Emergency - Let's Get Moving

"Earth, our common home, is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us…. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her."  - Pope Francis, Laudato Si'

Speaking about global climate change and other environmental issues, Pope Francis, in the opening of his encyclical "LAUDATO SI'," appeals to our compassion. He is calling on us to feel and treat Mother Earth with compassion so that she can heal from all of the abuse us humans have inflicted upon her.

Recently, I interviewed Dr. Peter Carter, MD, co-author of a new book entitled, "Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival".  One of the foremost climate change experts in the world, Dr. Carter summarized the meaning of the words of His Holiness. "The living planet is being destroyed and this is going to have horrendous effects on future generations of all species. The future survival of all today's children and young people is at HIGH risk. Their very survival is threatened, and the survival of all future generations of humanity is threatened. We are now looking at the entire future being in peril. THAT is what we are calling The Earth Emergency."

His Holiness is absolutely correct in making a plea to us because all the data points to the depth of the harm we have imposed on Mother Earth. Dr. Carter illuminates us on just a few of the facts from a global perspective:

"    Oceans are dying.  Coral reefs are dying.  Oceans are heating, de-oxygenating and acidifying;
"    With rapidly increasing heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods, the world is losing its food and water security (this is scary);
"    Atmospheric CO2 is the highest it has been in 3-5 million years;
"    Climate change causes 400,000 deaths on average each year;  
"    The Sixth Mass Extinction is happening 1000x faster than happens naturally … and the list goes on.

Having trained and worked as a family doctor and emergency care physician Dr. Carter is even more descriptive when he says, "I think we could say that Mother Earth is facing death - and we need to put her into intensive emergency care, just like any doctor or nurse would for any critical patient. She is very sick - and her emergency first responders and paramedics could be EACH AND EVERY ONE of the 7 billion humans on this planet."  

Studying the results of the various COP conferences, there still has been no emergency response and there is not even a plan IN PLACE for an emergency response.

In today's medicine, a timely emergency "code red" is a most positive thing because evidence shows that it DOES save lives. Well, we are definitely in a "code red" for the living Earth.  

In the case of an emergency, the diagnosis of a potentially fatal and treatable disease is a most positive thing, because if treated the right way, the patient can be saved.  The same analogy applies to the Earth Emergency. Humans are innately wonderful healers. We CAN collectively save and help Mother Earth heal. I know we can. Instead of putting our heads in the sand (which we have been doing for the last few years because we keep thinking the problem is too big for one person to solve), we need to be audacious, valiant, bold, and heroic!

Dr. Carter will tell us that The Earth Emergency can be dealt with successfully through Courage, Compassion, Cooperation and Conversion. He elaborates, "These are everyday realities and human qualities in the field of health care and they must be extended to the whole planet."

All of the solutions Dr Carter presents to us are definite. All the solutions have been available for quite some time, and they just keep getting better. This is THE MOST EXCITING moment in the history of humankind - because we can all come together to save and care for Mother Earth, just like a capable health care practitioner would.  

In Parts II and III of The Earth Emergency, we will present Dr. Carter's solutions to the crisis.  Stay tuned to see how you, your family, your workplace and your country can spring forward to all help our Mother Earth heal. It will feel sooooooooooooooooo good!