« Revisiting My Quest for OneEarth Living—Thanks to Kritika Narula, Delhi, India »

One of my personal delights over the past year has been my email exchanges with Kritika Narula, Delhi, India. I’ve gotten to know Kritika as an energetic collaborator for OneEarth living. Recently, she interviewed me and then wrote a post on the Green Follower website—a blog that refers to itself as “promoting green mania.” I like the self-humor that goes with their wonderful array of blogs. Until Kritika drew my attention to it, I did not know about Green Follower. First she posted an article there expressing her own interactions with Blinded by Progress. Then, in December, she added this interview. (Kritika, you have been so affirming that I blush when I read it.) You can learn a bit more about Kritika at bloggada

Her first question in the interview got me to revisit the quest I’m on for OneEarth living, AND to what extent writing the book contributed to success in my quest. What follows is her question and my reply:

Kritika: You say this book is your personal quest. What is that quest and did you succeed?

Me: My quest is to live within Earth’s abundant limits instead of beyond them, in other words, to live a OneEarth life. However, my current footprint is far too big. So my quest presses me to ask, “Why is OneEarth living so elusive, when commonsense tells us all that we have only one planet?” As I wrote the book, I came to see how willing we are to believe in illusion when it serves our desires for increased material things, convenience, and security. We are also quick to believe that MultiEarth civilization is a stunning story of Progress. That Progress, however, has blinded us, because its advances in technology have been highly mesmerizing and because we have developed a bad habit of equating economic growth with improved wellbeing.

So, yes, I succeeded in much of my quest.

1. I came to understand better how MultiEarth living expresses a worldview that many people have faith in, believing it will give them the life they want.
2. I came to see that the MultiEarth worldview is supported by enchanting stories and mythologies of power and control, corporations and militaries.
3. I now understand far better the five big practices I identified that keep MultiEarth living functioning and shape civilization as a MultiEarth project.