Give It Away #6 Earth, Every Day Today is the fortieth annivesary of the first Earth Day, so I should probably say something about the current state of ecological affairs. But it is a little bit difficult for me to talk about this topic without sounding vanguardist; I've been intensely involved in the Deep Ecology movement for almost a decade now. When I read an article about some new and wonderful technological invention that is supposed to fix all of the problems caused by the previous new and wonderful technological invention, I am knowledgeable enough to analyze the science behind it and realize that it won't work. And when I read headline after headline about collapsing ecosystems all over the planet, it's all I can do not to knock my head against the wall and bang out in morse code: "I T-O-L-D Y-O-U S-O". I think that I'm willing to listen to accusatory cries of moral outrage, and I usually prefer to hear the bad news without any sugar-coating. But reading the ecological doctor's report that takes the pulse of Planet Earth -- the almost-certain terminal diagnosis -- that's a bitter pill to swallow. And if you've brought any children into the world, then you have their bodies and souls to be responsible for, as well. So I can kind of understand why it's hard to hear what surely sounds like Cassandra yelling her head off about end times. Alright, then, I'm not going to go eco-apocalyptic on you and demand that you reduce your fossil fuel use to Third World levels. But at the same time, I'm not going to pretend for a second that if we only recycle our plastic pop bottles and install fluorescent light bulbs, that massive herbs of bison will soon be roaming across the Great Plains. However, there is some good news: there seems to be a correlation between environmental awareness and technological proficiency. So if a group of people are conscious of our increasingly rapid destruction of the natural world; and if they have banded together to organize an action to do something about it; and if they have realized that in order to make that plan of action manifest in the world, that it is going to take more financial resources that they currently have access to; then they are more likely to be hip to the JGooders game, to realize the vast potential for online fundraising that platforms like ours make possible. There are no shortage of eco-NGO's that are vying for your charity dollar on the JGooders website. Feel free to check out Canfei Nesharim or Environment as a Jewish Responsibility, or search the site for a green organization that resonates with your own ideals. And here's another little slice of good green news: the solutions to species extinction and soil erosion are not being developed in multi-million-dollar corporate laboratories, and the appropriate responses to resource depletion and climate change aren't being formulated in multi-billion-dollar government think-tanks. Because the solutions are not physical, they're spiritual. Don't get me wrong: we can't even begin to fathom the changes that our basic infrastructure is going to undergo in the decades to come, as it finally comes to grips with the planet's finite physical limits. But that's just the point: we can't fathom them because our hearts and minds are ecologically immature. The key to our ecological sustainability and survival is education. And I believe that learning to treat, not just every Jew, or every human, but every other living creature, the way we would like to be treated, will be a difficult task. But not more difficult than splitting the atom or landing on the moon. So roll your sleeves up, and smile! Happy Earth Day 2010!