The Environment Conversation - Week 1
Let me set the stage for you. It was 19 years ago. A very pregnant me, and when I say very pregnant, I mean that a note was required from my doctor to the airlines, granting me permission to fly. Although I was only 7 months pregnant, I either appeared to be carrying twins or looked ready to pop at any moment, neither of which was true. (And by the way, a doctor’s note seems a bit archaic or just plain weird, but whatever, I had my little note in hand just in case). I was headed to England with my brother to film interviews for our documentary, The Bottom Line. Don’t even try to look it up, as it didn’t get much further than our hard drives. High hopes, hard work, amazing interviews with heavy hitters from the NY Times, Pulitzer Prize winners, a head of an MIT department, a co-director of Leonardo DiCaprio’s The 11th Hour, and throw a a Kennedy in the mix with Bobby Shriver, who at the time was killing it with the Red Campaign’s partnership with Gap and Bono, all made for the dream project. But alas, it didn’t quite make the film circuit. And I am not the slightest bit bitter, and I certainly didn’t dream about the what-ifs of meeting Bono, selling our film, premiering at Cannes, and ending up with the little golden statue in our hands. Nope. Not one time did I practice my award acceptance speech in the car. It never happened.
But what certainly did happen is something I will forever be grateful for. I can honestly say that this project and meeting these incredible geniuses in their respective fields was among the biggest turning points in my life and, by extension, my worldview.
The Bottom Line was basically a film that focused on what and how we all shell out our money, and how our purchases can be used for good, whether it be to combat slave trafficking or support clean water in Africa. So, although there was no golden statue, what The Bottom Line did was open my eyes, for the first time, to the importance of the environment and our planet Earth. The UK, by the way, was ahead of its time in this baby era of putting our money where our mouths are regarding how and what we spend affects the climate, universal poverty, and so forth. I traveled to England with a particular outlook on life and came back a changed person. I officially became a tree hugger. Or at least a wannabe.
And soon after this life-altering experience, my faith also began to shape how I feel about the world around me. Somehow, this taking care of the earth thing has become politicized, and I’ve personally seen looks of horror pass across some good ole Texas Baptists’ faces if you talk about climate change or saving the planet. JKJKJK It’s not just the Baptists - I was raised in the Baptist church, so I feel like I can pick on them a little bit. But let’s see what the Good Book says – Genesis 2:15 details one of the first commandments that God gave in the Garden of Eden. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Stewardship of the planet is woven throughout the Bible, from Leviticus to Revelation.
Kathryn Hayhoe, a climate scientist, the chief scientist for the Nature Conservatory, distinguished professor and endowed chair at Texas Tech University, and a self-proclaimed evangelical Christian, affirmed this to Katherine McKenna on her Women Leading On Climate podcast, ”I truly believe that we are called to care for those less fortunate than us. And climate change affects us all, but it disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable, almost marginalized people in Canada, in the US, and around the world. And so, as a Christian, I felt it was my responsibility to use my abilities and skills. I had to do something.”
This makes sense to me. And so this calling – to take care of my planet not only became a no-brainer issue for me, it became something that my particular faith demanded of me and for the global chain of humanity. I began researching what all of this meant and how others before me viewed saving the planet, which brings us to the precipice of Earth Day.
The idea of Earth Day was born from US Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin. Nelson, who was considered one of the OGs of what we now know as the modern environmental movement, was inspired to begin an effort built on the shoulders of grassroots demonstrations, to seep into the zeitgeist of the American people and, really, the entire world. He was joined by Stanford Student Body President Dean Hayes, a motivated young activist, who helped to mobilize this historic project.
History.com reports on Nelson articulating that “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous responses at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor the resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.”
He went on to say, “The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express their concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air—and they did so with spectacular exuberance.”
And according to the Earth Day Network, an organization that coordinates Earth Day activities, more than 1 billion humans worldwide are currently involved in some form of Earth Day activities, making it by far the “largest secular civic event in the world.”
And those little hippie, nature lovers haven’t stopped at the mere thought of checking the box of a peaceful march or planting a tree, although both are incredible ideas, and which I hope to implement into my life at some point. You see, the 70’s weren’t just all free love and music festival free-for-alls. It was a time when people actually rallied their elected leaders to pass pivotal legislative measures, such as the Clean Air Act, the Water Quality Improvement Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. December 1970 brought another home run with President Nixon creating the Environmental Protection Agency, whose sole mission was to protect humanity and the earth. No biggie.
The EPA does like to brag a bit, citing that before their creation, “the federal government was not structured to make a coordinated attack on the pollutants that harm human health and degrade the environment.” But let’s give credit where credit is due. The EPA has been working to make our habitat sustainable for years, and continues to strive to do so. Well, at least up until recently, when their budgets were slashed, and their programs were considerably weakened at an alarming rate for our country, and really, our world. And yes, that does read like a political statement, which I really wish it didn’t, but let’s call a spade a spade, and if you keep up with unbiased National Geographic or any of the sort, you see firsthand the horrors that are in store for future generations if we don’t get our act together ASAP.
So let’s get those stats in there so we actually have the info our brain needs to make the adjustable changes our heart needs to make the final leap into action. Here is a small sample, from the UN Environment Program, of some depressing facts, to get your mind swirling,
- “One million of the world’s estimated 8 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction.
- We are using the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to maintain our current way of life, and ecosystems cannot keep up with our demands.
- Around 3.2 billion people, or 40 percent of the global population, are adversely affected by land degradation.
- Up to $577 billion in annual global crop production is at risk from pollinator loss.
- 100-300 million people are at increased risk of flooding and hurricanes due to coastal habitat loss.”
Pretty heavy stuff.
There have been many heroes over the years who have tried to educate the masses on the above maladies and more. One such springboard for the environmental mindset was Rachel Carson’s 1962 instant literary classic, Silent Spring. A book that begins with the tale of a small town where the blinding beauty of flowing rivers and lush greens cohabited with gentle animals grazing and frolicking as far as the eye could see. Then one day, an evil unforeseen atrocity covered the town, and it sank into death and darkness – unable to sustain life or beauty. Her metaphor of a small town as a stand-in for the larger world is central to her argument that pesticides and chemicals are destroying the beauty of our world. A historical account of our world and the themes of bettering it and being held accountable are found throughout this must-read book. She concludes with a nod to Robert Frost’s popular poem The Other Road, with our choices laid out before us. “The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth super highway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road – the one less traveled by – offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of our earth.”
So what is this road less traveled? And how do we get there? The UN Environment Program states that, “we only have until the end of the decade to bend the curve on nature and biodiversity loss. Transformational change is possible if we start now at every level, from local to global.”
The organization goes on to list actions that must be taken to give us a shot at this transformational change. Some actions include:
- “Investments in nature-based solutions will need to at least triple by 2030 if the world is to meet its climate change, biodiversity, and land degradation targets.
- Preventing the large-scale collapse of nature will require effective conservation of more of our land, inland waters, and oceans, as well as the world delivering on its current commitment to restore at least one billion hectares of degraded land in the next decade.
- We need to transform our food systems to become more sustainable and resilient in order to reverse environmental degradation, restore ecosystems, and ensure food and nutritional security.
- Governments must assign a financial value to the services that nature provides to people so that environmental action can be prioritized in policy and investment decisions
- Tax structures and subsidies should be reformed to incentivize sustainable production and ensure that environmental degradation no longer pays.
- Corporations should put sustainability at the heart of decision-making and focus on developing new sustainable business models to meet society’s needs in ways that are less impactful on the environment.”
All of these sound fine and dandy, along with daunting, along with 1000% we need the food industry, corporations, small businesses, investments, and government incentives to accomplish the grand picture of what we envision our world to be, and how to save it. The documentary film A Life on Our Planet, hosted by famed environmental hero David Attenborough, (quick side note: during the filming of the documentary, he is 93 years old and is more vibrant and eloquently spoken than most people I know of any age – it’s worth checking out for this fun fact alone.) touches on government incentives and cites Costa Rica, a favorite destination for many. Attenborough says, “A century ago, more than ¾ of Costa Rica was covered with forest. By the 1980’s, logging had reduced this to ¼. The government decided to act and offer land grants to owners to replant native trees. In just 25 years, the forest has returned to cover ½ of Costa Rica once again. Just imagine what we could achieve on a global scale. The return of the trees will absorb more than 2/3 of the carbon emissions from the atmosphere caused by our activities today.”
Throughout the documentary film, he goes on to detail the ballooning global population, beginning in 1954, when the world population was 2.7 billion, carbon in the atmosphere was 310 parts per million, and the remaining wilderness 64%. Flash forward to 2020, where the world population reached 7.8 billion, carbon in the atmosphere was at 415 parts per million, and the remaining wilderness was at 35%. Quite a shock to the system.
Attenborough continues, “We are facing nothing less than the collapse of the living world, the very thing that gave birth to our civilization. The thing we rely upon for every element of the lives we lead. No one wants this to happen. None of us can afford for it to happen. So what do we do? It is quite straightforward. It’s been staring us in the face. All along. To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity. The very thing that we have removed. It’s the only way out of this crisis we have created. We must rewild the world.”
This idea of biodiversity. I am, well, kind of embarrassed to admit that I didn’t really understand the true meaning of biodiversity or what it entails for the natural world. Biodiversity, by definition and according to The Nature Conservancy, is “the variety of life on earth….a rich and wonderful fabric woven by millions of species, their interactions with each other, the communities they form, and the ecosystems they support.”
National Geographic reports that “biodiversity is deteriorating worldwide at a faster rate than at any time in human history. “ Dr. Stephen Wooley, a field ecologist and biodiversity expert with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told National Geographic in March 2020, “If biodiversity disappears, so do people. We are part of nature, and we do not exist without it. We need biodiversity for every reason we could possibly think of. For our own survival, for our mental health, and for our spiritual health.”
One might then be inclined to ask: what is actually causing biodiversity loss? Basically, habitat loss, mostly on land, and over-exploitation in our oceans. The solutions? Education. Protection. Conservation. Intention. Action.
Reuters reports that, “some 22% of wetlands, both freshwater systems such as peat lands, rivers and lakes, and coastal marine systems including mangroves and coral reefs, have disappeared since 1970, according to the intergovernmental report, the fastest pace of loss of any ecosystem.”
The article from July 2025 goes on to say that, “The global destruction of wetlands, which support fisheries, agriculture, and flood control, may mean the loss of $39 trillion in economic benefits by 2050. The world has lost 411 million hectares of wetlands, the equivalent of half a billion football pitches, and a quarter of the remaining wetlands are now classified as in a state of degradation, according to the report. Wetlands’ economic benefits include flood regulation, water purification, and carbon storage - key as water levels rise and tropical storms and hurricanes intensify due to climate change.”
And this is just one piece of the climate headache and the environment. Le Monde, a French publication, reports that, “Last year was the third-hottest year ever recorded worldwide and in Europe. The data show that, over a three-year period (2023, 2024, and 2025), global temperatures exceeded the symbolic threshold of 1.5°C of global warming relative to pre-industrial levels. Still, at the current rate, the 1.5°C limit is expected to be crossed for good by 2030, a decade earlier than scientists had predicted in 2015.”
It honestly is hard to wrap your head around all of the different ways our world is being pummeled, and for a mere novice girl from Texas like myself, I can feel myself shutting down just thinking about it. I mean, I have enough to juggle on my plate without thinking about where I should plant a new tree and how it affects biodiversity. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way, am I right? But I had another come to Jesus moment when I recently had the privilege to speak with Kaiden Nguyen, co-founder of the Coral Group, a San Antonio-based landscaping design company, whose website explains that, “As landscape architects, urban designers, and planners, we believe that people and the land are connected as one ecosystem, and when combined thoughtfully, that synergy creates meaningful places. For us, Coral Studio is a way of life. We are stewards of the land, combining natural systems, community, art, and economics to create valued and enduring environments, while having fun throughout the process.”
It was truly an inspiring and eye-opening conversation on how they have and continue to implement daily sustainable practices into their business without compromising the creativity and integrity of their work. The entire interview will be posted in a few weeks, and I highly recommend you give them a call if you are in the San Antonio area and need landscape design. They are the real deal. But one point Nguyen made about saving dear old Earth hit home: the idea of understanding the connection between economics and sustainability.
“Because of our education and as landscape artists, we always push our clients to think about sustainability…but it can be a constant battle for us to educate clients that sometimes preserving areas is not only better for the project, but it’s also going to save you money,” explained Nguyen.
This idea of economics plays a definite role in our psyche, and, to Nguyen’s point, and in my opinion, most people would jump on board if they knew it was economically valuable to their own lives. Because I mean, who wouldn’t want to save a buck and the planet with one fell swoop?
Hayhoe illustrated this point when speaking on the Women on Climate podcast, “I don’t know about yours, but our (insurance premium on our home) went up 50% last year bc of the risks from extreme weather events.” She continued, “We know that the faster we transition to clean energy, the better off we’ll all be. In fact, an Oxford study last year found that we would save at least 12 trillion US dollars worldwide. And if we did it faster, we would save more money. “It’s not even an economic issue anymore. It’s simply an inertia issue and a will issue…..we need to know that others care and that there is shared hope. Because if we think we are alone, we won't do anything. And if we don’t think there’s any chance of changing anything, we’re not going to do anything either…people have to understand why it matters to them personally and what they can do about it.”
This concept of why things matter is the difference maker. Why does it matter if I stop using plastic water bottles? Why does it matter if I recycle? Reduce my carbon footprint? What do these things do for the world, for the future, for my life?
Local San Antonio owner of Armadillo Gardens, Alec Ferguson, recently spoke with me (and you will read more next week about the impact on the current environmental impacts on farmers such as Alec next week) about why it’s important.
“I think what I want is for people to have a closer relationship with the land. That can mean many different things. You know, it can mean you like hiking, botanizing, birdwatching, or growing food. It’s all connected,” said Ferguson.
Connection. There is a word that keeps popping up every month. With connection comes understanding. With connection comes hope. With connection comes grace. With connection comes love. Whenever I am sad or angry or feeling like the world or my world is just one big whip, I typically choose one of two options. I either hop in my car and blast Olivia Rodrigo/Dean, like some hormonal teenager, or I simply gravitate to nature. I walk to my favorite hiking trail or sit outside on my screened porch. As cheesy as it sounds, I listen to the birds, or I make myself sit and feel the breeze. I stare at the picture unfolding before me that could never be reproduced by mankind, and remarkably, I just somehow….feel better. And I don’t think I am alone in this. Nature tracks with many humans. Calmness. Restoration. Effortless Joy. So, in my mind, why wouldn’t I take care of this world that I’ve been so fortunate to inhabit? I’ll leave you with another one of Robert Frost’s poems, Nothing Gold Can Stay. My one ask is to sit with it for a mere minute, outside of course, and reflect on the words with the context of what it means to care for our fragile planet, and that nothing, absolutely nothing, is permanent without care.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
(Robert Frost)
COMING UP: Next week’s article is a first-hand account from Alec Ferguson of how the environment is affecting local farmers. His words offer an enlightening and motivational perspective, and I am excited for each of us to delve into ways in which we can make a mark on our planet, one step at a time.
AND for those who are enjoying the articles, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and passing along Stories of Our Lives. It has been such a joy to share these stories with you every week, and I hope the writings reach those eager to learn and clamoring to make a difference in our everyday lives.
A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough, September 2020
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 1962
Women Leading On Climate, Katharine Hayhoe and Catherine McKenna, October 2025
History.com, Earth Day Origins, 2026 date, Theme and Celebration, February 2026 (updated)
History.com, Earth Day Timeline - 1970, Facts & Firsts, May 2025 (updated)
UN Environment Programme, Facts About the Nature Crisis
Nothing Gold Can Stay, Robert Frost, New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes, 1923
National Geographic, Nature Needs Us To Act Now, Maryellen Duckett, March 2020
Nature Conservatory, Biodiversity 101, September 2024
Le Monde, 2025 ranks among the three hottest years ever recorded, Audrey Garric, January 2026