Save the world? I don’t believe the world needs saving. The Earth is resilient. She is strong and fierce and violent, and she reminds us of this with every cataclysmic weather event or geological rumbling. As many scientists have concluded, we are in the midst of the sixth major extinction event. Six. Five times before, this big, blue, beautiful earth has seen its life forms suffer, die and then disappear. She has survived each one with tragic grace. The earth does not mourn the dinosaurs. She will not miss us.

What we humans are trying to save is ourselves. All species are programmed with the top priority of self-preservation, of which pain and fear are motivating factors. We are afraid now that we will function with less than we are accustomed to. That paralysis can feel overwhelming, and one of the main reasons is that there are too many of us, and most are wildly disconnected from nature. People who know what a healthy river or forest look like will protect it. So what can we do to help make Earth remain comfortable and useful to humanity for the short time we might still have left?

Read this issue to find out.