[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison:Â Today we welcome guest contributor Abbie Jenks, who founded the Peace, Justice and Environmental Studies program at Greenfield Community College (GCC) in Massachusetts.]
It is hard to believe that 41 years have passed since the first Earth Day celebrations. Reading an article from Look magazine, published on April 21, 1970, I recognized it could have been written today. We might be saddened and burdened by that knowledge, yet it is becoming increasingly clear that fundamental social change is taking place.
More people are recognizing the need to change behavior in order for our world to sustain itself, now and for future generations. Facing such challenges as global climate change, environmental degradation due to wars, harmful corporate practice, personal consumer habits, and resource depletion, we must learn how to work together collaboratively instead of competitively.
The Peace, Justice and Environmental Studies program at GCC is an example of approaching these issues from a systems or ecological perspective. We strive to understand the social and cultural forces that work in conjunction with science and technology, and to create an integrated path to positive social change through nonviolent means.
With so much ambiguity, anxiety and denial about our future, we must engage in fundamental change, change that will create sustainable systems to meet our collective needs, without causing harm. We must learn that no one or no living thing has more value than another. We must learn how to share power to solve our problems.
Until we see ourselves as fully interconnected, we will continue to cause harm. Our world and our people are traumatized and we need to heal and consider how to prevent the damage done through violence towards others, the Earth, and ourselves.
If we understand that what we do affects everyone, and nurture an ecological perspective, we will be able to create a just and stable world.
Abbie Jenks, MSW, creator and advisor for the Peace, Justice and Environmental Studies program at Greenfield Community College