OM SAIRAM: Earth Day 2013

Monday, April 22, 2013

Earth Day 2013

What is Earth Day?

Founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day is aday intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for our natural environment. The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, was a US centric event but today Earth Day is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year.

The mission is to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable environment.

On Earth Day’s 40th anniversary in 2010, over a billion people participated in environmental activities and events in 190 countries.

Earth Day is a celebration of our environment and a day to reflect on our individual impact on the world around us. We all hear the messages: Replacing old light bulbs to CFL’s or LED bulbs can save huge amounts of energy let alone money and so on and so on. But how many of us are really taking action?

Many folks think that in order to make a difference it will cost them a ton of money or they will have to settle for a lesser quality product or the effort they put in won’t make much of a difference. That’s simply not true anymore.

What is true is that there are so many simple actions and options that we can each take action on today to help us conserve an incredible amount of energy use (and save us all money), lessen our carbon footprint and protect the world that we have inherited for our children and our grandchildren.

Simple and affordable projects like changing out those old light bulbs for the newer, more efficient LED bulbs or composting in your garden or conserving water by making your toilet a dual-flush toilet are all projects that make an instant impact on our world.

This year, Earth Day turns 42 years old. It all started back in 1970 with a call from United States Senator Gaylord Nelson to the nation to come together to protect our world and environment. Since that first Earth Day back on April 22, 1970, many things have changed for our environment for better and worse.

Today is Earth Day - Hindu Religion and Nature--

A Hindu worships nature not out of fear but by realizing each living being is a representation of the Supreme Soul or God. Hindus worship and feed cows, ants, rats, bull, snakes…we find divinity in rivers, mountains, trees…Each and every aspect of Nature is Holy for a Hindu.

In the tenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says
Now I will declare to you My Divine glories, immanent, in their prominence; O best of the Kurus, there is no end to the details of My extent.

I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the Beginning, the Middle and also the End of all beings.
Among the trees, I am the holy banyan tree (the Ashwattha tree – Pipal ),

Among the cows, I am the wish giving Kama Dhenu

And among the water bodies, I am the sea

And among the immovable, I am the Himalayas

Among the peaks, I am the divine Meru

Among the shining objects, I am the Sun God

And among the stars, I am the moon

Among those who move fast, I am the wind

And among the rivers, I am the Ganga

And among the seasons, I am the flowering spring

Among the animals, I am the lion,

And among the birds, I am the eagle.

Among the fishes I am the Shark.

Among the great elephants, I am Airavatha

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And I am Vasuki among serpents,

And whatsoever is the seed of all beings, that also am I, O Arjuna; there is no being, whether moving, or unmoving, that can exist without Me.

But is an average Hindu protecting Nature or at least not destroying it. Sadly, majority of the Hindus only remembers trees, animals, mountains and other aspects of nature only during festivals and auspicious days.

Even some of the Hindu festivals which were deeply rooted in Nature have been converted into pollution festivals by crass commercialization.

River Ganga is slowly dying; Ganesh Chaturthi is in news for polluting water bodies; important Hindu temple towns are highly polluted, not a single river associated with Hinduism is pollution free, tigers and numerous other animals that are constantly depicted with Hindu Gods and Goddesses are facing extinction….it is a long list.

We often find blame excuses to escape from responsibility or play the blame game. There are a lot of things an individual can do.

When reading Hindu scriptures we realize that there was period when Nature was without human beings and there are indications in many scriptures that in future too there can be a period without Human Beings – the Supreme Soul appears to annihilate that which is straying from the path of Dharma. By destroying Nature and behaving as if we are above Nature we are straying from the path of Dharma and behaving like the demons in the holy books and inviting the wrath of the Supreme Being.

Nature will survive even after human beings are gone. Man needs to change, if he needs to survive in Nature or Nature will find ways to eliminate Human Beings.

Earth Day 2013? What projects will you take on to improve our world? To help you get started, here are some great articles, guides, projects and videos to help you learn decide how you can make Earth Day 2013 a great day for future generations: