David Brower’s Credo for the Earth

Posted on December 19, 2005 by Dave Pollard
I had meant to include this in yesterday’s post on The Challenge of Wilderness Environmentalism and the Four Myths of Civilization. It is a Credo (statement of personal belief) written by naturalist David Brower, whose essay Healing Time on Earth I referred to in that post.

There is but one Ocean,
though its coves have many names —
a single sea of Atmosphere with no coves at all;
the miracle of soil, alive and giving life,
lying thin on the only Earth,
for which there is no spare.

We seek a renewed stirring of love for the Earth.
We plead
that what we are capable of doing to it
is often what we ought not to do.
We urge that all people now determine
that an untrammeled wildness shall remain here
to testify that this generation had love for the next.

We would celebrate a new renaissance.
The old one found a way exploit; the new one
has discovered the Earth’s limits.
Knowing them, we may learn anew
what compassion and beauty are,
and pause to listen to the Earth’s music.

We may see
that progress is not the accelerating speed
with which we multiply and subdue the Earth
nor the growing number of things
we possess and cling to.
It is a way along which to search for truth,
to find serenity and love and reverence for Life,
to be part of an enduring Harmony,
trying hard not to sing out of tune.
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