“If a man loses one-third of his skin he dies; if a tree loses one-third of its bark, it too dies. If the Earth is a ‘sentient being’, would it not be reasonable to expect that if it loses one-third of its trees and vegetable covering, it will also die?”
Richard St. Barbe Baker
“To view nature as a vast ‘sentient being’ is to see it alive and imbued with a spirit or a soul just as did our ancestors for hundreds of thousands of years. Today we tend to dismiss this view as archaic, crude or rudimentary, but why as Theodore Rozsack wonders, “should it be thought crude or rudimentary to find divinity brightly present in the world where others find only dead matter or an inferior order of being?” writes Edward Goldsmith (8 November 1928 – 21 August 2009)
Edward Goldsmith, was an Anglo-French environmentalist, writer, philosopher. As a deep ecologist and systems theorist, Goldsmith was an early proponent of the Gaia hypothesis which proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet.
“The new paradigm may be called a holistic worldview,” Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939), physicist and best selling author of The Tao of Physics and Turning Point. Capra continues, “seeing the world as an integrated whole rather than a dissociated collection of parts. It may also be called an ecological view, if the term ‘ecological’ is used in a much broader and deeper sense than usual. Deep ecological awareness recognizes the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals and societies, we are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on) the cyclical processes of nature.”
“It is with a spirit of reverence that I approach God’s Creation, this beautiful Earth. The ancients believe that the Earth was a sentient being and felt the behavior of mankind upon it. As we have no proof to the contrary, it might be as well for responsible people to accept this point of view and behave accordingly.” – Richard St. Barbe Baker
Do you agree, is the world a vast ‘sentient being’?
“I began to see that the survival of primitive people and of the environment were inseparable. Primitive people were disappearing. So was wildlife. I realised that the root problem was economic development. So I decided to start a paper [Blueprint for Survival] to explore these issues.” Edward Goldsmith
Further Reading
11 Billion people will share this planet by century’s end. This will change everything.
Book Review. The Web Of Life by phyicist Fritjof Capra. Scott London.
Capra, Fritjof. The Web Of Life (excerpt) Thinking Allowed DVD with Jeffrey Mishlove. You Tube Video.
Cummin, Vivien. How many people can our planet really support? BBC News. Earth. March 14, 2016
Gaia Hypothesis. Environment and Ecology.
Hanley, Paul. “Eleven” Live Presentation Paul Hanley begins at 4:14 Wilmette Institute You Tube video.
Horton, John and Glen Newey editors. The Political Theory of John Gray. Routledge ISBN 1134212631, 9781134212637
Lovelock, James. Population Reduction “Max 1 billion”
Parkins, Keith. The Way: An Ecological World View – Edward Goldsmith (Themsis Books, 1996) February 2000
Rosling, Hans. Why the world population won’t exceed 11 billion. TGS. org.You Tube video
St. Barbe Baker, Richard. Why I am Vegetarian. 1957 The Happy Cow.
Vyawhare, Malavika. Can the Planet Support 11 Billion People? By the end of this century, that many people may be inhabiting this planet, according to the latest U.N. projections. E&E News. August 12, 2015
“If in some small way I’ve helped to slow the runaway juggernaut that we’ve created, or make people aware of it, that has to be a good thing,” Edward Goldsmith
For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063
Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot
Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com
Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map
Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Facebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
| Payment Options |
| Membership : $20.00 CAD – yearly Membership with donation : $50.00 CAD Membership with donation : $100.00 CAD |
1./ Learn.
2./ Experience
3./ Do Something: ***
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“From the forest and wilderness come the tonics and bark which brace mankind…A town is saved, not more by the righteous men in it than by the woods and swamps that surround it…”
-Henry David Thoreau
“This generation may either be the last to exist in any semblance of a civilised world or that it will be the first to have the vision, the bearing and the greatness to say, ‘I will have nothing to do with this destruction of life, I will play no part in this devastation of the land, I am determined to live and work for peaceful construction for I am morally responsible for the world of today and the generations of tomorrow.'”
Richard St. Barbe Baker
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 
Reblogged this on Covert Novelist and commented:
Exceptional!
LikeLike
Whenever I hear the word Gaia I’m reminded of George Carlin’s skit on plastic. Have you heard it?
LikeLike
Hi there. George Carlin’s skit is amazing!!! The way Carlin circles around to the very same conclusions of English political philosopher, John Grays’s translation of a Taoist message ‘If humans disturb the balance of Earth, they will be trampled and tossed aside.” Thanks for your comment, Carlin, says it very well!!!!
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike