Whoah. My colleague Phil's post this morning rocked me mightily.

Like so many people I'm sure, I spend a lot of 2am time staring at the ceiling, wondering when, how, if I can ever resolve all the puzzle pieces of my daily life into 24 hours. Parenting two small children, work and ambition, meditation/spirit time, my marriage, my friendships, omnivorous reading habits, time for things that bring me joy like exploring the woods, birding, exploring new music and returning to my musical heroes [can't resist adding the links ;-)].... and consistently making mindful, informed choices where my health is concerned, and where the health of the world that sustains us all is concerned. And these last two are not exactly "fun," so they're easy to neglect.

Phil reminds us that neglect of health and environment will implacably lead to consequences that render all the others moot. He's responding to hard news by owning that mindful choices re his health are always available, moment to moment. It's the same for me, for us all. And it's on all of us together to take better care of the environment around us -- individually, of the ground we stand on, the parts of the world we touch as we make our daily rounds; collectively, of Spaceship Earth entire.

We know so much more than we used to about the nature and treatment of life's afflictions. People (I've no idea how many, but it's a very large number) with HIV, heart disease, diabetes and other conditions once thought utterly debilitating or fatal have proved up to the challenge of making choices we know are prerequisites of hope -- they've made great sea changes to how they live, and have enjoyed long, vibrantly healthy lives post-diagnosis. If they can, I can. If they can, so can we all. Surely not perfectly, and across every individual who walks this planet -- but we can generate the critical mass necessary to stop, and eventually right, our world's gathering tilt out of balance:

The bottom line of the MA findings is that human actions are depleting Earth’s natural capital, putting such strain on the environment that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. At the same time, the assessment shows that with appropriate actions it is possible to reverse the degradation of many ecosystem services over the next 50 years, but the changes in policy and practice required are substantial and not currently underway.

That's from the UN-sponsored Millenial Ecosystem assessment, which involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide.

So now's the time. And people get it -- you'd have to have lived deep in an underground bunker to miss the explosion of interest in "going green" over the last few years, which shows no signs of abating. I'm optimistic, and I can't say that five years ago I was. I think that tipping point is coming.

(Now if only I could right my own ship -- time to get in the gym, and I gotta remember to turn off those power strips!)