‘No Jobs on a Dead Planet’

On a recent, leisurely canoe float with friends on the White River in Indianapolis, we came across this graffiti, reading: No Jobs on a Dead Planet. While I’m not necessarily a supporter of graffiti, especially when it spoils quasi-nature settings, the inscription arrested me, as it cut to the heart of an imbroglio we are often thwarted by: the idea that we humans, well over 7 billion of us, must make our livelihood without harming the environment on which we depend. This argument of livelihood, in fact, is often used to justify aspects of consumption and energy use that we know are damaging the environment and contributing to the climate crisis. Ultimately we have a choice: our “job” can either be about healing nature or it will be about surviving the extreme weather and other disruptions resulting from climate change.

–Jim Poyser, Earth Charter Indiana