Theodore Roosevelt was a huge advocate for the establishment of the first national parks. A great gift to posterity, these have made the world a much better place. 🌲

At the same time, if you went back to 1872 and asked the indigenous people who previously lived in Yellowstone and Yosemite what they thought about the philosophy of building actual fences to keep these parks separate from human "civilization," what do you think they would have said?

The whole idea that this planet is separate from humans is corrosive to life. We are stuck in a human-centric perspective, from which "protecting the biosphere" seems to be just one more issue on a list of issues (alongside things like jobs, tax policy, immigration, etc) that revolve around strictly human concerns.

Humans would benefit more if we took an Earth-centric perspective, from which human concerns were viewed in terms of how our solutions might be of service to the biosphere WHICH WE ARE.

Saying we live "on" a planet implies we are separate. Saying we live "as" a planet acknowledges that we are connected.

Stop scrolling and look at the little creases of skin around the knuckle of your thumb. You see those? THAT'S OUR BIOSPHERE.

You're a planet, have a nice day. 🌍

This is inspired by my brilliant friend who already uses this sort of language naturally: Amanda Joy Ravenhill.

As I was imagining how this art might look, I took inspiration from Antonio Mora. Check out his work, which has a similar style. Thank you for the original photography: Luis Quero, Davide Pietralunga, Edu Carvalho, Pixabay, and Theodore Roosevelt.