We Aren’t the World. We’re Just Renting the Place.
Coca-Cola’s 1985 smash, worldwide classic, “We Are the World,” was a brilliant, emotional call to action to help solve the world’s connected problems, starting with aid to impoverished people “barely living” in Africa.
But viewed in the lens of climate change, it incorrectly promotes our human-centered planet because, “We aren’t the world.” We share it with every living plant and animal.
As Kristy Lynn points out in her New York Times article, Earth Is Not Just a Human Playground, we affect the world and our actions have consequences, none so dire as the existential threat of climate change.
We act as if the world were here only for humans and not that we live in an interconnected world where every living thing depends on everything else.
If you’ve ever been stung by a bee, this momentary intrusion of nature into our lives is an annoyance and painful.
“Damn bees. I’d like to kill that bee, and the rest of the bees on the planet.”
Yet, a third of the world’s production of food depends on bees and other pollinators.
As Lynn points out, “If Earth were only for humans, why would it be constructed that humans rely on other parts of nature to survive?”
The earth, our home, isn’t just about us, it’s about all of us—every living thing on the planet.
So, every little thing you do to reverse climate change, even the smallest actions, like turning off a light, taking a shorter shower, or buying second-hand clothes to support sustainability, has an effect on everything else.
At least, that’s what the bee told me, shortly before he immersed his stinger in my left arm.
Jack Goldenberg is way more than a proficient copywriter. He is also the creative director at Einstein da Vinci & Goldenberg and you can get in touch with his inner adman at 10 Minutes of Brilliance.
