Dear Earth 

I have spent far too many days, months, and years being selfish and thoughtless. I have loved exploring this planet and now I have the opportunity to help people see you in a whole new way—from space! One of my hoped for outcomes of space travel is an increased awareness of you, our precious Earth. People will be able to see that fragile,thin blue line, our atmosphere, the only thing protecting us and keeping us alive. Maybe that visual awareness will make a difference in how we treat you.

I have littered, consumed, and self-pampered beyond reasonable limits. Did I believe that what we do in the name of consumer excess to destroy you is not my problem? I don’t think I ever consciously gave you much thought. That perhaps, is the most glaring example of “not my problem.” Sure I’ve bragged about some of your wonders—the moon sparkling on the Pacific Ocean in the Galapagos, the amazing precision and longevity of Macchu Pichu, the vast Rift Valley in Kenya, Victoria Falls, the azure sea on the Amalfi coast, the red rock walls in Sedona. Yet, only recently have I taken action to pay attention to what I do to you and to change my behavior to what I can do for you. Have I cruised on ships that have, in the past, dumped their garbage? Have I demanded fresh towels and linens at hotels—just because I can? Have I left the lights on in my hotel room because, after all, I’m not paying the light bill? Guilty on all counts.

One important step I’ve taken is to have our company, Great Getaways, join Sustainable Travel International http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/.  As a business, we are recycling more, using less paper, and we are educating you, our fellow travelers, on how to lessen the footprint we leave when we travel. We encourage purchasing carbon offsets and we support green travel.

We do not own the Earth; we are its caretakers. The actions I take today will not by themselves change the world; think, though, the power of all of us can, drop by drop, create a sea of change. Will you join me? Please post your ideas to help the greening of our planet.

Not my problem? Read below:

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap! Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse warned, “There is a mouse trap in the house! There is a mouse trap in the house!” The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it!”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house!”

“I am so sorry, Mr, Mouse,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, “Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger? Duh!”

So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she didn’t see that it was a venonous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife and the farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. His wife’s illness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well; in fact she died and so many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think that it doesn’t concern you, remember that when even the least of us is treatened, we are all at risk.