Title: Interconnectedness: an Overlooked Solution to the Environmental Crisis – IONS
Headings: Interconnectedness: an Overlooked Solution to the Environmental Crisis
Interconnectedness: an Overlooked Solution to the Environmental Crisis
The Illusion of Separation
How the Illusion of Separation Has Fueled the Environmental Crisis
Embodying Interconnectedness: an Overlooked Solution
How Embodying Interconnectedness Can Address the Environmental Crisis
A New Way of Being

Content: Environmental sustainability, spiritual fulfillment, and social justice are not three separate issues, but rather interrelated facets of the same whole. How Embodying Interconnectedness Can Address the Environmental Crisis
When we recognize the interconnectedness of all life, we start to see connections we hadn’t seen before. And once we start seeing those connections, we have a more holistic perspective of the world and the challenges we face. We become less blind to the root causes of our problems and widespread consequences of our actions, and can create solutions that address multipronged issues that touch all aspects of society. Once we start seeing that all life is interconnected, we start to see that environmental and social issues are interrelated facets of the same crisis. Anxiety, depression, loneliness, and loss of purpose fuel our highly consumptive habits, which encourages the destruction of the Earth. Meanwhile, the exploitation of the Earth has adverse effects that disproportionately burden marginalized communities. Not only are marginalized communities more likely to live and work in places where the effects of the environmental crisis are more present, but they also have access to fewer resources to offset those impacts. Interconnectedness helps us see how a lack of spiritual fulfillment encourages habits that destroy the Earth, and in that process, we treat certain people as less valuable or even disposable. It also shows us that the solutions to these problems address not just one aspect of society, but several simultaneously.