1992- Earth’s Warning Signals - Windstar Note

 

[Admin Note: These days we call global warming - Climate Change. But nothing else has changed. John was working tirelessly on this from the very early days. It still is vitally important.]

Mauna Loa

One of the places that I love to go on this wondrous planet is Hawaii. My trips there help to keep me grounded in natural systems and how they work. The beaches, volcanoes and water falls are all precious to me. There is little to match the vision from the crest of Mauna Loa as mist clouds part and the vivid blue of the Pacific etches the line between earth and sky.

Charles David Keeling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_David_Keeling

It is ironic that in such an idyllic setting, an ominous sign of destruction could appear. However, in the late 1950’s scientist C. D. Keeling began a series of measurements of the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere above this mid-Pacific island. As the years passed, his results were alarming and convincing. He found the level of CO2 to be steadily increasing and questioned the possible cause(s). Because Hawaii is no industrial giant and widespread burning of forests is not common, likely contributors of CO2 do not apply. The evidence suggests that Keeling and his colleagues were actually measuring the effects of a global phenomenon rather than a local characteristic.

What we know about how nature works shows up again: Action taken in one place affects another. It’s all connected.

All of the life support systems on this earth are changing as a result of an accumulation of human activities. One sign is the increasing CO2 levels at a rate not previously seen. This global trend has now matured into a condition that may threaten the majority of life on the planet.

Carbon dioxide is not the only culprit. It is joined by two other dominant gases - methane and chlorofluorocarbons. Together they’re labeled “greenhouse gases.” These gases, as nearly everyone knows, affect the balance of energy in our atmosphere. The net effect of all this is global warming.

But chlorofluorocarbons are also at work in another way - deteriorating ozone in the upper atmosphere of our planet. Ozone, at this altitude, plays a powerful role in screening out ultraviolet light from the sun. With depletion of this protective blanket, ultraviolet light reaches the surface of the earth where it affects all life and degrades the quality of our ecosystems.

Recently I visited Chile, a country well within reach of the growing Antarctic hole in the ozone layer. Consequences from the hole appear to be growing as well. I heard about children being forced to wear sunglasses when they play outdoors. Reports include cattle having gone blind and a five-fold increase in skin cancer - all apparently related to this loss of protection from the sun’s rays.

Stephen Schneider, one of the most eloquent of the scientists pursuing the nature of these planetary threats, said that it doesn’t matter whether all of the facts are fully in and understood “We would all be better off if we acted as though they were.”

Stephen Schneider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Schneider

In Brazil this summer, a gathering of global leaders will meet in a cooperative effort to gain greater understanding of these and other planetary threats. Called the Earth Summit, and sponsored by the United Nations, this UN Conference on Environment and Development offers an opportunity to live up to what Stephen Schneider urges us to do.

UN Flag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit

World leaders at the Earth Summit are to make policy decisions recognizing that the problems we face are neither characterized by national boundaries or political posture. This conference is designed to be important yet it may not yield the results that are needed. One major reason involves the United States.

It remains uncertain whether President Bush and U.S. administrative leadership will be full and genuine participants in the Brazil conference. Election year politics are probably complicating circumstances. Taking action to deter the progress of global warming and ozone depletion requires a commitment to the long term. A long-term view obviously does not always translate into short-term elect-ability. It seems to me that if we’re not stepping forward to lead, we’re actually in the way. (Bush did attend for two days.)

[John Denver attended as well.]

John's introductory speech at the Earth Summit 1992

John performed with Dean Evanson as well. Link in the caption below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36HB52tIUoY

 

To paraphrase Stephen Schneider:

We need to help and follow through.

The clock is ticking.

The earth is showing us its warning signs.

Our collective styles of living on this planet must be brought into balance with what is needed for survival. Brazil offers a forum for the future.

John Denver

Windstar Vision, May-June 1992

1991- It’s No Time for Scapegoats - Windstar Note

I have often found myself deeply immersed in trying to understand what it is about Windstar that makes it different. I know from my own work that I am deeply committed to the Earth and its mysterious bonding with the human spirit. I can see that many traditions and ways of knowing held by other cultures are often closer to what seems to be a healthy relationship with the Earth than is exhibited in today’s industrialized nations. Yet none of these other cultures, as I understand them, has all the answers either. If Windstar is to help save the planet, it is destined to fall upon each of us to participate in creating a new set of ways of being with the Earth. I think this is part of Windstar’s special responsibility and role – helping to define new relationships among people and the living systems of the Earth on which we depend.

You probably know that Windstar grew out of a childhood dream of mine to create a place in the mountains where my friends could come and talk. In the beginning, that is what it became, with remarkable people from all over the world coming together to share ideas and plans for creating healthy environments of all kinds. We laughed, anguished, worked and sang of the possibilities that can create a future of peace and fulfillment for all of lifekind. We pledged ourselves to be for things that work, rather than against those that do not.

We taught each other to look at the concept of “you and me”. It’s not the choice between you or me that will create a healthy future. It’s learning to choose ways of living that make it possible for you and me to live together on a peaceful planet.

Bucky Fuller with John at Windstar

Bucky Fuller was a mentor throughout this process. He kept urging us toward joy and possibility whenever doubt and despair crowded into our thoughts. When I reflect on those beginnings, it is clear that Windstar has always been committed to service an environmentally sustainable future through a broad vision of peace and health. We are concerned about the inner environments of humanity as well as the ecological environments of our common home, Earth. The way we are with ourselves in our relationships, businesses, and communities is as important as the way we treat the physical environment that sustains us. We have a responsibility to create healthy environments in all dimensions of our lives.

We are emerging from an era during which we have spent a lot of time pointing fingers and venting accusations. The reality is that neither blame nor guilt offers promise for a peaceful and environmentally sustainable future. What we can and must do, I believe, is to look for viable opportunities to create new options for the future. Integrity charts a more authentic course for human nature than does aggression or deceit. The path of wholeness is becoming more clear and is being chosen by increasing numbers of people, although Rambo still seems easier for many people to understand than Gandhi.

Gandhi

I do not believe it is an illusion to think that we can achieve peace within our human families on the Earth, or that we can achieve peace with the Earth itself. The crisis in the Middle East, deforestation of so many acres of the Earth, the continuing plague of devastating hunger and disease, and the seeming erosion of conscience are all problems created by the ways in which we think.

·        It used to be customary and reflexive to think that the world’s problems were somehow outside of each of us. It was someone else’s fault and someone else would solve it. Now I know that there is no one else to do the job.  Just as there is no “away” in ecological systems, there is no scapegoat for the problems of the world. The problems are not outside us. They begin inside us.

Each one of us is responsible for the ways we think and behave. We can have our Earth Days, rallies and attempts at election reform- but if we are not whole within ourselves, and whole within our vision, these events will be ineffective in the long run.  I will continue to search for wholeness through my songs, and will work to assure that it will live as the spirit of Windstar. I invite all of you to work with me to make the world whole, beginning with each of us in our own lives.

John Denver

Windstar Vision - March-April 1991