MAN vs EARTH – The loss of our Childhood Characters – Price EA

Prince Ea is at his most fascinating in this new video. Wisdom and intelligence (which he helpfully explains are two different things) shine forth—brought to vibrant life by his rhymes. As he has in the past, Prince Ea showcases his ability to transition seamlessly from fact-laden monologue to information-dense, hypnotic rap.

He begins by—as so often he has—by putting us (and himself) into an uncomplicated perspective. He tells us that planet earth is 4.5 billion years old—and were we to condense that time, were we to put that on a 24 hour scale, we would find that the time passed on that planet by human beings would be a mere three seconds. Prince Ea never leaves himself out of the equation. He does not preach–he educates; he commiserates, he reaches and teaches. He always counts himself as one with the listener, and this video, which highlights the effect that humankind has had on the earth, is no different.

With this comparison of the age of the earth versus the age of mankind, given in a conversational tone, Prince Ea’s flow creeps, almost imperceptibly, through the first thirty seconds of the video. The very first hint is wordplay at forty seconds, but it is unobtrusive—it is good to be smart, but not good to be too smart for your own good. That is barely a taste of what this wordsmith has to offer, however.

Rhymes trip by while the listener strives to absorb the information: the difference between wisdom and intelligence, the true meaning of wisdom, and then we are caught in the hook of “than ever before”: stronger storms, more drought, more hurricanes, and more wildfires— because of more pollution, more carbon, and more destruction than ever before.

“In the next ten to a hundred years, every beloved animal character in every children’s book is predicted to go extinct.” Now, this may not be strictly true—dogs are probably not expected to go extinct, and they’re certainly beloved characters. But they are also animals which have been designated under our strict protection.

The animals that are expected to disappear are listed: every lion, every rhino, every tiger, every gorilla, every elephant, and every polar bear… gone… Horton hears a Who? Horton is but a myth our great grandchildren will giggle at. Simba and Mufasa? Strange and mystical beasts that once existed. Tigger?…. An ancient creature from long ago.

Of course, the loss of the real creatures, the real animals, the actual lives is the real tragedy. But Prince Ea never shies away from making a sincere emotional connection where he can, and he does that here by asking us—no, beseeching us—to remember the empathy and love we had for these creatures when we took them for granted. Now, they will be gone.

If we don’t do something.

And he follows up this plea to the heart with the demand for accountability which he also never shies from:

Creatures that have been here longer than us, will be gone because of us. In our three seconds of existence, we have learned to wipe out species at 1,000 times the previous rate. We are destroying our own legacy, our own memories, our kind—and our brothers and sisters in the animal world.

Prince EA

But Prince Ea doesn’t stop at recriminations. He understands that you are as caught up in the mix as we all are, as he is. He speaks the truth, but he doesn’t demonize. He tells us what we are responsible for, and then he tells us about our potential.

He cries for “somebody, anybody help” and then he goes on to describe a savior.

And that savior is the very species responsible for the destruction.

He describes the very special circumstances that allowed us to live, how rare we are in the universe, and how—with our intelligence and our wisdom—we are as prepared to create and maintain a paradise as we are to destroy one. “We are one in a billion-trillion-trillion.”

He asks, and it is a difficult question to answer: “How are we not a miracle?”

Prince Ea is unique in that his approach to the truth is as unvarnished as his hope in a better world is unparalleled. As he says, “Goldilocks said it best, we are just right.” Prince Ea sees human beings as just right to save the earth, and he is just right as the poet, activist, and intellectual to mobilize a movement to do so.

Prince Ea is hoping to wake up those who are not already aware of their calling to support this planet that supports their very family, and he also calls to those who are aware to step up their efforts and reach out, which is one of the reasons we are reaching out to our readers to enjoy this emotionally charged, uplifting, motivating video.

The real crisis, Prince Ea tells us, isn’t global warming, environmental destruction, or animal agriculture. Those may all be crises, but the real crisis is…

Us.

And the real solution is us.

Prince Ea ends the video with a suggestion for viewers to support StandForTrees.org, as our world’s forests must be supported in order to end climate change. This is true, the deforestation of the planet must be subdued.

This, in itself, raises an interesting point, is there a limit to returning the earth to prosperity?

Preventing more trees from falling certainly falls into, Care of the earth, the first principle. Actively getting your boots on the ground and restoring the environment locally or internationally, as the PRI’s own Geoff Lawton has done with Greening the Desert is another way. One of Geoffs’ quotes immediately comes to mind,

The earth reacts and responds to damage to restore balance. In addition to Prince EAs’ call to immediately stabilize the environment, we also need to emphasise self-reliance and responsibility by integrating land, resources, people and the environment through mutually beneficial synergies. The Permaculture we practice is the philosophy of thoughtfully working with nature and we are now desperately needing a society where all people and Permaculture practitioners are based on ethics and applied education.

We must not underestimate ourselves. We must embrace our accountability as well as our strength to change things, and we must not be afraid to move forward. Millions are “waking up out of their sleep.”

So can one person make a difference, will Prince EA’s call for somebody to help be responded to?

Feeling alone or powerless in our commitment to save the planet is an illusion, that only lasts as long as it takes for us to join a community that is moving forward, the leaders championing this cause don’t use “I” they all say “we” or “our”, and they lead by example, empowering those who share the passion. Moving forward to preserve our planet, our environments, and the species that make this Earth so unique amongst all of the planets in our solar system. Perhaps amongst all of the planets in our universe.

There are many causes to which you might devote yourself—some broad ranging, some as simple as making your own backyard part of a larger ecosystem. The choice is yours.