Dear Earth,

First, let me apologize. I’ve known for many years that what we humans are doing to upset the delicate balance of mysterious evolution is at a tipping point toward the sixth extinction. This knowledge is a burden. It is a burden that too few of us acknowledge. How I wish I could turn my face away. It sinks deep into my soul…this burden, this guilt.

But my father taught me, “With knowledge, comes responsibility.”

Yes, we have some knowledge. Yet, we can’t have all the knowledge. The mystery of life! Some of us have developed to wing our way through the air with significantly different and sweet bird song. Some of us have developed to swing through the trees with agility, and live in groups that show protection and love for their young. Some of us have developed to live underground, burrowing through the soil. Some of us have developed into many millions of insects that play their important part in our interdependence.

Hubris and the associated ignorance has brought this upon us. How dare I even address you, who have provided us with the sustenance of life? But, here I am, offering you my poor excuses for what we have brought upon us.

Please let me explain what I mean by the word “us.” We homo sapiens, though far from the Latin meaning of “wise ones,” are responsible for this too-near sixth extinction. Of course, it won’t be just us homo sapiens that will disappear. As in the past five extinctions, this one will affect all forms of life. Some of our bird friends, who wake us each morning and sing to us each night, have already disappeared. It is not news to anyone that the apes, our closest animal relatives, are already near extinction in some parts of the world. Our worms, that provide our soil with what it needs to give us our nutrition will be affected. Our ants, possibly more wise than us big-brained homo sapiens, are being displaced with our demand for “more living space.” In other words, all that makes life possible is under threat.

E.O. Wilson, one of the truly wise ones, has just written another book called, “Half Earth.” He is calling to us to acknowledge what we have done, and continue to do, to you.

My plea to you, dear Earth, is asking for forgiveness and understanding. And time. Now that there is global knowledge of our responsibility, perhaps our world leaders will seek and find what we must do to remedy this dire situation.

With much love and appreciation,

Sally

Sally Breen lives in Windham.