Happy Earth Day Humans!

I promised myself not to be drawn into the negativity of any sort today. I think I succeeded until the evening when starter to look at other research and you can read those on my Twitter account if you wish. I will keep this entry coronavirus free. Everyone needs a break!

Today we participate in 50th Earth Day. I say participate because there is a big emphasis to do something, whatever small, to help the environment. It’s not just awareness, it’s action. Henry Ford has once said:

Vision without execution is just hallucination.

The first day happened on 22nd April 1970. The irony is that after 50 years the movement has grew not from pure care of our habitat but because we are facing a climate emergency, or perhaps even a catastrophe. Although my project was formed a few months ago, I didn’t have time to lift it off the ground. With the lockdown, I had more time to think and do stuff. My baby steps in practising essentialism also led to many conclusions. One of these leads me to aim to live and finish the day like it would be my last one. Yes, it is a little bit over the top. However, if you think about it, it’s more about finishing things you have started. So if I will set up my tasks properly then I will be able to accomplish them on a daily basis. It’s like compound interest. You cannot be a millionaire overnight, but you can over a long period of time. However, you won’t accomplish this without constructively and consequently achieving it. It is like reinventing a wheel. Still how many people truly reinvent it effectively enough to get them from A to B as they wish. It must resonate with you and help you become better. There is no one rule for all. We are all individuals more or less. The same is with the planet, environment and the economy. I would like to, therefore, dedicate this day as the start of the new beginning and better future.

So what better way to spend it than making sure that my daughter’s education is not compromised, that we still spend time together and at the same time learning sustainable and symbiotic living. Today’s walk was dedicated exactly this. We set up with a bin bag and while enjoying the weather, conversations and nature around we have picked up so much rubbish that there was no more space in the bag. I was surprised because my initial thought would be we won’t find much of it as we live in a ‘nicer’ location. How wrong was I until I actually looked around. This is what we do as individuals and society as a whole. We ignore things. If it’s not about us or doesn’t benefit us we push it to the side and leave it for later, or we purposely removing it out of sight not to deal with it and ignore it forever.

I am learning and rediscovering trivial things daily. The more you look, the more you see. Perhaps it comes with age, but it’s the same as with money. If you live recklessly there will be little of that life for you at the end. If you drive yourself into debt because you will earn more, repay it later is exactly this. But you may not have a chance to live later, you may not have a possibility to repay your debts.

I used to disagree with Horace’s ‘carpe diem’ big time. This only because I saw it from my perspective, not really trying to understand the true mining of this ‘seize the day’ mantra which I saw purely as a hedonistic and ignorant approach. I used to like to plan my life ahead of me. But then even hedonism could well be fine if that’s your values. If it is important to you it matters and nobody should tell you how to live your life. We could now consider it from my perspective again. This suddenly became a mantra of essentialism. Two different approached. One would like to concentrate on family, drinking beer with friends, climb a mountain or write a book. So once you know what you want you should focus on it. Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow.

Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.