doing it oursleves

Yesterday evening I discovered a TV had been left on Disney Channel and asked which movie I was seeing - curiously without sound. "Chicken Little" was the answer - and after about a minute - "Well it is the end now, he has been a hero and saved the world."

I was about to ask one of those parent-type questions - well if you could be a hero and save the world what would you do? - when it hit me that this was not a question that I wanted to ask. The end of the movie is in a theater and a spot light lands on Chicken Little - no, I thought to myself, not a spotlight, no heroes - we all have to save the world.

Earlier in the evening news there had been the astonishing juxtaposition of two stories - on the one hand rising sea levels and internal refugee problems in Bangladesh and on the other Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic - for a measly $200,000 you can get to ride in space - and burn ridiculous amounts of fossil fuels to do it.

The fact that we can - with a straight face - see such things together and not groan at our own hypocrisy makes me think that heroes cannot save the planet. As the world enters into the Copenhagen Climate conference we all have to be the heroes which we are currently looking outside for. No one is going to rescue us from the mess we have got out planet into - no one is going to figure out how we can continue to live as we do and save the Earth - we have change ourselves - we have to take on the self-giving and unrelenting aspects of those we call heroes.

There will not be a spotlight for this work which is ahead of us - we will have to take risks and make demands of ourselves - but for the sake of our home, and in fulfilment of our duty as God's stewards we cannot wait until we can say - it is over, he or she is the hero - we have to take the initiative and be those who act and act quickly.