An EQ response to the climate crisis

We are living out of balance.

It’s clear. We are living dangerously beyond our means, out of balance with our planet.

We could list the symptoms, but you know what they are. You are either trying to do something about it (maybe feeling a bit small and helpless) or – understandably – trying not to think about it too much. Here’s an idea to help, based on a new reality we can all tap into.

On Christmas Eve 1968 Apollo 8 came round from the dark side of the Moon, and Bill Anders took a photo. It has become known as “Earthrise” – and that’s exactly right. It was a new dawn in every sense, for the next pictures he took were the first of our whole planet suspended in space. A new One World era had begun.

Now all of us can zoom out to take Bill’s place in space, to imagine our shared home, our shared resources, our shared destiny – our equality under the sun – in a way we never could before.

Now, if we are living out of balance, why not take a prompt from Earth’s two fixed balance points in its orbit round the sun? The Equinoxes. On these twin days in March and September Earth is in harmony and we are equal under the sun. That is a great resource! It has a logic and a beauty to it which, with your help, will build and build.

Because of course we care about the well-being of this and future generations. The message of EQ is that we are all equal under the sun. It's a message of hope. That we can act now as if we have a future - and the rhythms of the planet are there to help us.

A powerful symbol for balance.

What if?

At spring and autumn equinox, the center of the sun is on the same plane as the Earth’s equator. This means that on one day in March and one day in September, there are the same hours of daylight and night – Equi-nox – everywhere around the world.

But what if we used the equinox as a symbol for how to live our lives every day of the year? What if ‘Not too long from now… our children may ask, “How were you able to start the process that unleashed the moral imagination of humankind to see ourselves as a single, global civilization?"’ (Al Gore in 2007).

Today, all our lives are bound up together. Let the equinoxes teach us that, in all our diversity, we are still equal under the sun.

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

The idea that ‘we are all equal under the sun’ is not new.

The ancient Tao chant 天地人合一 "Tian di ren he yi" means "heaven earth man together."

Later, Shakespeare wrote “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

Now, from Nelson Mandela: "Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”

Equality is a universal concept.

TURNING A SYMBOL INTO ACTION

We are using the notion of the equinox to help bring more balance to our world.

We are going to use the spring and autumn equinoxes as moments in time where we can focus the world’s attention on the need for greater equality. But we didn’t want to stop there.

We’ve set ourselves the goal of creating an online toolkit. This online library will share stories, ideas and events that can help bring more balance to our lives and our communities on a daily basis.

And to do it, we need your help.

This is a cunning little logo, with imbedded meanings. It’s based on the math of the Golden Ratio (1:1.618), which means it relates to many designs of nature – and much that is man-made too, in all cultures. See if you can a] work out the symbolism b] build your own logo!

EQ has great and good potential. I like the big simple truth it stems from and pays into. - Seamus Heaney

Send us your best ideas for how to bring about balance.

We’re looking for ways that we can bring more balance and better future-thinking into our lives. And we want people to be able to share these ideas with one another.

Send us your best ideas. It could be a new community based initiative you’ve heard about, or a link to a great article you’ve read. You may have realized that the equinoxes will make great days to revisit and refresh existing projects and links, harmonizing them to these balance points. They may even inspire We believe there is enough in this simple idea to inspire your own reaction or resolution. It may give you a Eureka! moment. you to start something new.

We will select the best of these ideas and arrange them into the new EQ searchable online library. We are also creating a calendar for events that are aimed at connecting community and creating balance.

You’ll be able to search through the library and calendar, Think of this calendar as a passport to the future as well. It will be a valuable resource for us – and for the next generation. choose ones that feel most exciting and helpful to you and share them with your friends.

A fascinating and imaginative initiative with considerable potential. - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

We will be launching the EQ solutions library on September 22, 2013 – the autumn equinox. And the library will continue to grow as you and like-minded people around the world add to it.

Thank you for helping us to build towards a world where we are all equal under the sun.

Check back for news and progress.

An EQ response to the climate crisis

by Martin Nelson | February 17th, 2020

Our climate and biosphere are now universally recognised to be in crisis, as this chart* of 1000 years of ice core and 50 years of atmospheric data starkly shows. The equinoxes in March and September are here to help. If they are adopted as official Earth Days, they can become action rallying points for us… READ FULL ARTICLE »

Spring Equinox: Fifty Years ago the First (forgotten) Earth Day

by Martin Nelson | March 15th, 2019

“Earth Day is devoted to the harmony of nature. The celebration offends no historical calendar, yet it transcends them all” These words of the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead – who with others 50 years ago in 1969 chose this fixed event in the calendar to be the first Earth Day – apply precisely to the… READ FULL ARTICLE »

Our climate and biosphere are now universally recognised to be in crisis, as this chart* of 1000 years of ice core and 50 years of atmospheric data starkly shows.

The equinoxes in March and September are here to help. If they are adopted as official Earth Days, they can become action rallying points for us all. This is how it will work:

We will take an audit and make resolutions each equinox, whether as an individual/household, community or business, with tailored online resources. Biannual 5-fold Pledge Cards will become a six-monthly habit, reinforced with targets, games and challenges, accelerating our journey to a sustainable post-carbon future.

In this way Earth Days can be reimagined as accessible, exciting and relevant, with new innovations regularly added. And equinoxes are uniquely fit-for-purpose as Earth Days…

TWO DEFINING QUALITIES

Universal. As planet events, equinoxes are beyond human-scale. Equinoxes are true planet days
Equal under the Sun. 12 hours night and day (equi-nox) everywhere: twin moments of shared destiny every year. Equinoxes are equality days

FOUR MORE SPECIAL ASSETS

Biannual. Actions and audits every six months; equinoxes are accelerators
Logical. Earth Days by definition gives a logical basis for our responses. Equinoxes clarify
Global and Local. Planet events link us all to the Bigger Picture. The “we can make a difference” effect. Equinoxes empower
Inclusive and Neutral. Zoom out beyond all forms of boundary and sense our global citizenship. Equinoxes connect

BROAD APPEAL, TURBO-CHARGED

This means equinoxes can reach out to…everyone! Radical actions – Greta Thunberg, youth climate strikes, Extinction Rebellion – are changing the political ground-rules for environmentalism fast. But the “Attenborough effect” of nature documentaries is also changing popular attitudes worldwide. Harnessed equinoxes should have that wide appeal too, and turbo-charge the concept of “we all can do our bit” – including ‘bottom up’ initiatives of new ideas.

EQUINOXES AS EARTH DAYS, SPRING & AUTUMN

SPRING INTO ACTION

TURN OVER A NEW LEAF

A 5-fold Pledge Card committing us to accelerating change in our lives

Environmental & energy audits harmonised to late March and September

Biannual (summer-winter) targets set

Challenges, projects, links, celebrations – every equinox

We’re building a global movement to bring balance to our lives, our communities, and our world.

The Challenge