[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkq7Zady4IQ&hl=]

Does it happen to you that you have something on your mind for a while and things start happening around you that help you towards that thought, person, action that you’ve been thinking about? Well, it does happen to me quite a few times. Sometimes it can influence the path your life takes while other times it is very trivial. As I briefly mentioned in my 3rd Jan blog post, I’ve been doing some thinking about life and things that shape it. This thought process started for personal reasons but it has lead to broadening and changing my view towards the world around me. I don’t want to go into the details of the whole process but interestingly it started on a scenic train journey on a holiday where, despite other people, I found myself alone with nature. At the end of the whole “thinking session” I came out with a realisation (one of many) that we, the modern human beings, have moved way too far from our origin, the nature. This thought also made appearance in my 3rd Jan blog entry but this time I’m digging little deeper and, may be, wider.

“The modern human beings have moved way too far from their origin, the nature.” Within last few days I have come across many things, movies, websites, books etc. that have resounded the same thought. And I thought like sharing those and their message with as many fellow humans as I can.

Firstly, I should mention the movie, Day the Earth stood still (DTESS, for short). I watched this on 3rd Jan and absolutely loved it! I did not know it was a remake of a 1951 movie which had Klaatu bringing us warning against the then raging Cold war. The 2008 version is adapted to warn us against the constant abuse we are inflicting on this beautiful planet we, ironically, call “our planet”. The plot is that an advanced extra-terrestrial civilisation has realised the importance of Earth as one of the very few planets that can support life and they want to save it ….. from us, from the mankind. Klaatu has come with a “Noah’s ark” (smaller spaceships in the movie) to take away other species to a safe place and then wipe out human race in a “flood” (plague of tiny flies that devour man and metal alike) to give Earth another chance. According to him, “If Earth dies, you die. If you die, Earth survives.” I feel this movie couldn’t have been made and released at a better time. With the speculations and discussions about the “end of the world as we know it” in 2012 heatedly going on, it is time that we changed our ways. I do not believe that the world will be destroyed in 2012. More likely, the technological advances, economic globalisation and upheavals in world politics will accelerate to such a degree that by 2012, the world will be a very different place than it is today. It could be an epitome of paradoxes ….. artificially created natural habitats, global connectivity that would isolate each one of us, democracy in each country enforced by military power ….. possibilities are limitless, and frightening. So I would hope that at least some, if not all, people will watch and learn something from DTESS.

The realisation a few weeks back and having watched Wild Ocean 3D (see blog on 3rd Jan) and DTESS back to back made me desperately think of ways I can play my role in reverting, or at least slowing down, the global abuse of nature. I went to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) website to see what is being done and what needs to be done for environmental conservation, just as curiosity. And there I found a section about the Earth Hour! I remembered then that last year I had forwarded an email to my friends about it but never observed it myself. I felt very shameful and I have resolved to flick the switch(es) at 8:30pm on 28th March, 2009 for an hour. I would encourage everyone that reads this blog to spread the word about EH 2009. The aim this year is to reach 1 billion people globally. WWF has its own YouTube channel. They’ve made a very informative video (featured above) of how EH started and its success in past 2 years. The EH website also gives information on how people can participate and make EH a success in their own small village or town.

The third thing I want to share is a multimedia effort by a group of artists to educate kids and adults alike about extinction of various species in the past and how we were responsible for them. It is called Rockford’s rock opera. The group produces short animated films and conversations amongst the characters (prose and songs) are used as a medium to spread the message. In the past I wrote about a very meaningful song sung to a soothing tune produced by this group who go by the label Sweetapple (the group members being Matthew Sweetapple, Steve Punt, Jess Pendall, Elaine Sweetapple, Nick Rhodes). Recently I happened to visit their website and found a treasure trove of multimedia material (some of which is free to give you the taste of their work). Their YouTube channel also provides a sneak peak into their and others’ creations about extinction. These people are definitely worth checking out if you care about “your planet”.

Yes, we call it our planet. Klaatu tells us the contrary. Is it really ours? If it is, what do we do to give it back what we take from it? Shouldn’t we be feeling privileged to be living and thriving on one of the very few planets in this vast Universe that can support life? Should we be taking Earth for granted as we have been for ages? Is this the first time the human race has threatened the planet and itself owing to its irresponsible ways? Or have we been given a chance for a new start many times before and we still haven’t learnt the lesson? These are the questions worth using some of our brain cells over.