Why Is the Message of Our Earth Every Day So Positive?

Why is the Our Earth Every Day message so positive when the world is facing so many environmental challenges?

Our Earth Every Day shines a light on the Power of One. Each person has an opportunity to powerfully, positively impact the earth. Each of us has ownership of this planet and when we take it as our personal mission to make a difference, regardless of whether anyone else steps up or not, we fulfill our elemental need to steward the earth.

The Our Earth Every Day message is based on the premise that human nature thrives in an atmosphere of optimism, collaboration, recognition, humor, authenticity, creativity and action. Even though each one of us can and do make a difference, we often do our best work when we can recognize that we are not alone in our efforts. On the Our Earth Every Day platform, all of us who go about our lives, usually unrecognized, have a voice. A six-year old or a ninety-six-year old from anywhere on the earth can be recognized and appreciated for their ideas or efforts expended on behalf of animals, people, and the earth.

Recently I spoke with a man who is delighted with the Our Earth Every Day initiative.

When I asked why he is so fired up by Our Earth Every Day, he identified himself as a Gen X-er in need of hope that the earth can recover. He went on to explain that his generation was the first to have grown up under the specter of environmental disaster on a global basis.But he agreed with my observation that there seems a general sense of hopelessness and despair among many people, not just his generation.

Beyond recycling and occasional sporadic efforts, those among us who state that we are environmentalists mainly just worry. There are some who seem to have a jaded acceptance that one person alone cannot make a difference, so why even try? There are only disastrous times ahead. Worse still are those who get angry. Many have a perception that anyone who could be positive about positive global change is uninformed or overly optimistic, essentially a Pollyanna. On the other hand, the antonym of a Pollyanna is defined as a “cynic, defeatist, pessimist,” which is not a good recipe for changing our current global environmental trajectory. Our Earth Every Day employs the strategy of a realistic but positive approach that takes advantage of the best of human nature’s resilience which has allowed us to survive and thrive in adverse circumstances for over a hundred thousand years.

The Our Earth Every Day community rallies to the words of Wayne Gretzky, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Our Earth Every Day serves as an incubator of individual great ideas and small actions that ripple out to make great change. One arborist from Ireland, who is an expert on global reforestation, has identified that we can reverse global warming if each person on the planet plants one tree each year for six years. Perhaps she is wrong, but what if she is right? We have nothing to lose by giving it a try.

The answer to why the Our Earth Every Day community is so positive when the world is facing so many environmental challenges is that each of us wields the Power of One which, with a “can-do” attitude, can accomplish great things. However, when we join together with other people equally as positive, strong, compassionate, resilient, creatively intelligent, and willing to passionately work toward a goal, we are unstoppable.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead