Oh wait, that’s not right, is it? I think the phrase we are all used to hearing is “Spread your WINGS!” “Fly!” “Run with the wind!” But here is the problem. The water is dirty, the forests are bare, and the wind is polluted because we have spent so much time tending to our glorious wings and stretching them as far around the globe as humanly possible that we have not stopped to see the shadow we have casted on the ground. I am hoping the metaphor I’m using here is understandable but let me break it down for us. We, as a population, as inhabitants of our Mother Earth….as a flock, are a race only in competition with itself. We create, industrialize, innovate, produce, invent, and ultimately “enhance” our lives with technology, and architecture, and whatever else it is that we claim to be so proud of. We just keep flying higher and higher without even thinking twice about the effects on the ground below us. We cut down trees to clear land just to put another building down. We do not replant or replace what we take. We burn fossil fuels and eliminate entire species out of sport, or desire, or by destroying their habitat the way we are destroying our own. We take from Earth in abundance, but neglect to replenish it. We take more than we need and waste what is left over. We have everything we could ever want at the cost of everything we need. After watching “The 11th Hour” and reading about Easter Island, I learned so much about humanity, so much about the world, and so much about my role in it. I learned about all the things we have done wrong to nature by only doing right by ourselves and how in the end, we will have done wrong by both. I learned all the different pieces and how we set them up just to fall like dominoes. Before reading about the Island, I did not have anything to compare our situation too. It is sad that we know the Islanders did not make it, but we continue to make the same decisions they did as if the results will not be the same. I gained the realization of what I can do differently. I realize now important it is to recycle what can be reused and conserve in whatever way possible. I realize how important trees are and replanting them or refraining from cutting them down is even more so. I thought the world was beautiful before, but now I have a much deeper awareness of how beautiful it really is. I thought we lived on this everlasting rock that would always be the way it is. I did not really question the idea that it won’t be if we just keep soaring through the sky like we own it. It seems it does not really matter what our wingspan is if there aren’t any worms in the soil or trees to build our nests in. Maybe instead of spreading our wings prematurely, we should be spreading our roots instead. In discussion, I feel like I brought valuable information and support to the table. I stated how things need to change if we want our fates to. I talked about how the Islanders could have better prepared, planned, and potentially survived. I feel like discussion really opens us up to these ideas and to one another. It helps us become more comfortable in voicing possible solutions regardless of what side of the argument you are on or which side of the room you push your bean bag to and that’s something we all brought.