Home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill. — Robert Louis Stevenson
Traditionally, “Home” referred to the roof over your head, be it a shack or a mansion. Regardless of what your home is, the belief that “A man’s home is his castle” is deeply rooted in our American way of life. Across the millennia, our homes have provided refuge from the outside world, a place of safety, warmth, and security.
What is becoming more apparent as the years of the 21st century slide into history, is the reality that “home” can no longer provide refuge from the outside world. Centuries of progress, consumerism, population growth, conflict, and ignorance are all taking their toll on our planet, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
That roof over our head is no match for rising sea levels, megafires, megastorms, pollution, drought, and so on. The unfortunate residents of what was once Paradise, California, along with millions along the east coast, have come face to face with the new world order.
These are scary times, yet the vast majority of us continue along with a business as usual mentality. One example to make the point. Twenty years ago, a four door pickup was a rarity, occasionally found in commercial use. Today they are everywhere. If we truly want a healthy home, then we need to rethink our concept of “home”. It would be in our best interest to treat our Earth as well as we treat our own homes.
As the bumper sticker says, “Think Globally, Act Locally”, because we all share the same home, Earth. Without a healthy planet, none of us can have a healthy home.
