— by Hope McKenzie —
Technology has spawned a loss of intimacy and connection, both with each other and with the world around us. All of us are familiar with the sight of people enclosed in their own virtual domain, oblivious to those around them. As we distance ourselves from the world in which we live—and all of its inhabitants and wonders—we lose site of its interconnectedness with us, of its gifts and of our own needs. We tune out of the individual voices once so resonant and into a cacophony of images and words that exist only in that virtual domain, wrenching ourselves from the natural world in which we inherently belong.
One idea for a good deed to help restore that balance is to exchange one hour of time spent engaged in technology for one hour spent engaged in community. If we expand our sense of community to include all life, it gives us limitless opportunities for engagement. A participant in our recent Conservation Conversation noted that she made time each day to reconnect with the natural world—sitting outside, looking at the sky, feeling the wind—a practice that led to a deeper awareness of the life that surrounded her, which in turn led to a more profound understanding of that life. Donating time and energy in an effort to reconnect—however we define that connection—can help keep us linked to the life with which we share the world.
Because it’s a vast, incredible, real world. And it needs us.
Hope McKenzie is a writer and an advocate for the preservation of wildlife and wild lands. She is working with Earthfire Institute to help create a sustainable future for all living beings.
