Earth, as we know it, is many millions of years old. And due to various natural reasons, she has been through numerous changes throughout that time. But never has any inhabitant of planet Earth, ever, in those millions of years, contributed to its change and transformation as we humans have.
01. Our Impact
Our impact on our home has been evident for many years, and scientists and environmentalists have been telling us about this impact for as long as we have known about it. Only a few of us paid attention at that time. Today we are seeing the effects of our impact and feeling it more and more. We realize we have reached a point of no return, and we all have to make a change. People are beginning to take notice of climate change, and there is a growing movement amongst many societies to change what has been done. I have seen many environmental groups and people trying to organize initiatives, and asking people through social media and friends to join. This made me realize that with all this technology out there, and all the apps and websites, none have given people an effective tool to do more in cleaning and healing the Earth and her inhabitants. This gave me the idea and the inspiration to start Earthly.
More so than others, is the voice of the younger generations of our time, who realize that it is their future and their home that is at risk. It is the children of the world who are rising up, asking governments to be answerable, and actively making a change. This movement has been something that has given me great hope, and added inspiration for creating Earthly, for I am sure that they will need the help of technology such as Earthly to make the changes they hope to do.
02. How you can make a change
When we hear the stories of climate change, weather changes, melting polar ice caps, rising waters, natural disasters, vanishing species, and so many scary predictions, our immediate reaction is… “well what can I possibly do about that, I’m just one person”. That is true. However, we should never underestimate the power of one. Take Greta Thunberg as an example. Her one voice made powerful people stop and listen, pay attention, and start to realize that this world is not theirs alone, but it belongs to future generations. She, as one person, has made a change.
Now the question is, how can you make a change? The answer is not to think of yourself as changing the entire world, instead, think about how you can make a change to your immediate surroundings. This can be done by cleaning one acre of beach or forest at a time, planting one tree at a time, recycling one bottle at a time, saving one animal, and helping one person at a time. Slowly but surely, we will start to make a change. Now add more people to the mix. When you have more people working together with you, you can achieve much more. This is where Earthly comes in.
03. Our purpose
The purpose of Earthly is twofold. Firstly, it is there to help you create and manage initiatives and projects that can make a change to your immediate surroundings. Secondly, it sends out that initiative to people in your neighbourhood, city or town, who want to contribute and make a change, but don’t know how to go about it. When they discover initiatives on subjects they care about, they can join in by volunteering and donating what you need. This helps you to bring together people from much wider circles than your immediate friends and social connections, and collectively start making a change in your locality.
Now imagine people in all corners of the world getting together in groups, creating and participating in initiatives. This collective force by all of us, all over the world, will begin to create an immense change and heal our planet. This is my hope, and my dream of what I would love to see, and what I believe Earthly can help us to achieve.
04. My hope
From my humble imagination, I can only predict what I think people can do with Earthly, but I know that there are a million different good things that can come about when people get together, put their minds together and work together. My biggest hope is that the next big ideas will be on how to repair the damage we have created, and to develop new technologies that enable us to live sustainably on planet Earth without further tainting it. These genius ideas could be in the minds of children and people living in places where they don’t have access to the wherewithal and resources they need to turn them from ideas to reality. My fervent hope is that with Earthly they will be able to gain the attention and the help they need to make those ideas a reality and to create a new world in which we no longer use, abuse and pollute our home and our planet.
I was inspired by the words of one of the greatest people to have lived, Mahatma Gandhi, who ever-so eloquently said, “Be the Change you want to see in the World”. I hope we are all able to be that change, and that Earthly will play some part in helping us to achieve this dream.
