Ecology

We continuously hear of "the environment."
Environmental protection, environmental damage, environmental conservation, environmental responsibility. 
As if the world, the trees, the creatures of earth, the tree of life, are somehow separate from us.
As if we are just semi-impotent observers, peering out at the biosphere of this planet from behind plate glass.
As if there are two prevalent entities in existence in this world, namely, "nature" and "humans." What we typically miss, nine times out of ten, is the plainly simple fact that we are part and parcel of nature. 
Our species is an integral, inextricable component of this planetary biosphere.

What we do to the earth, we do to ourselves.
Each bomb, each spill, each ecological disaster, affects us. Deeply.

Our biology reflects the tenuous balance of the oceans. Our neurology mirrors the dynamic evolution of the forests. Our immune systems parallel the homeostasis of the atmosphere. 
We are not of, or even in, the environment.
We ARE the environment. Inextricably connected. No separation. 
What we do to this planet, we do to ourselves. 
Ecology and conservation are not morally dogmatic, pie-in-the-sky environmental protection. ...they are essential, practical self-preservation.

What we do with this knowledge, and where we go from here, is up to us.

-e