Let's Declare This July Fourth Interdependence Day!

With the Fourth of July coming up in just a little while I want to put a thought into everyone's mind to consider in the coming days before the holiday weekend, and beyond.

Instead of celebrating our independence this year, let's proudly declare our Interdependence.

This isn't to take away from the historical facts of the separation of the United States from Great Britain. Rather, it's for all of us to publicly acknowledge the simple and inescapable fact that we all need one another.

From the level of the individual to the level of nations, from household to neighborhood, from smallest bacteria to largest whale; from rain to cloud to soil to plant to insect to human; no part of that whole can be removed with having an impact on the other parts.

True, removing some parts may have a greater immediate impact than others, and things will evolve to reflect that new dynamic, but the principle remains valid. But for too much of recent human history we have failed to acknowledge this essential relationship.

The Entire Universe is in a Sheet of Paper

In case you need an illustration of this, let me use a passage from Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh (with a hat tip to Satish Kumar, in whose writing I first saw this):

There is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper that you are holding in your hand. Without a cloud there can be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow, and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either; so the cloud and the paper inter-are.

If we look into this sheet of paper more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper; the paper and the sunshine inter-are.

Thich Nhat Hanh goes on to expand outwards from there, talking about the logger and the paper mill and the food that fed the logger, etc., etc. He concludes by saying:

'To be' is 'to inter-be'. You cannot be just by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is. As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe within it.

If any of you are now sneering at this fuzzy headed nonsense about 'inter-being' simply rephrase it all in more strictly scientific, biological, ecological terms if you like. They are both equally valid ways of expressing the same thing.

Take 5 Minutes From Your Holiday Weekend to Observe Interconnectedness

So, on the upcoming holiday weekend, while you're grilling with your family, watching fireworks, going to the beach, or doing whatever you like to do, please take just five or ten minutes to contemplate all of the interconnected factors that went into your meal (everything that got that corn on your plate, not to mention the plate itself) and everything that went into the event (how everyone got there, and how everything was made).

Sit for a moment at each stage of the process. Just sit still and observe.

Interdependence is a Source of Strength & Green Understanding

I think you'll find very quickly that the idea that we can ever be truly independent is only valid when the parameters are very narrow. In reality, in every moment, we are entirely dependent on each and every part of the ecosystem and planet we inhabit.

Rather than being something which constrains, it is that interdependence that is a source of strength. Understand this interdependence and you will be well on your way to being the greenest person you can be.

Fourth of July:
Join the Patriots of the Green Revolution
How to Go Green: Summer
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How to Go Green BBQ

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