“The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources; or if the planet is our mother, not an opportunity—then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective.” There can hardly be a better summary of India’s own sacred ecology. As the Atharva Veda prayed, “Upon the immutable, vast earth supported by the law, the universal mother of the plants, peaceful and kind, may we walk forever!”
David Suzuki
