The earth won’t take care of us until we take care of it

Regarding a recent letter to the editor from Feb. 16 on the earthquake in Turkey.

Firstly, why are human beings so speciesist? Does the author believe humans are the premier part of all creation, whether by God or evolution? There are billions of parts of this universe far more important than human beings.

Secondly, human beings have a duty to take care of Mother Earth (or, if you are not spiritually inclined, the ecosystem). If we refuse to take actions that benefit the ecosystem, we will continue to be sloughed off. The ecosystem (Mother Earth) is a living entity with sentience. It gets rid of its tormentors via plagues, earthquakes & other disasters.

Thirdly, if human beings do not make buildings with earthquakes, tornadoes and other parts of the ecosystem in mind, there will continue to be horrific disasters.

I was raised by a father who was 1/4 Native. He taught that everything has a spirit and everything in the universe is connected. He was also a man of science, a geologist. He adjured us to take care of Mother Nature or She would wreak havoc on us.

We grew up in the 1950s onward recycling, reusing, planting trees, cleaning up rivers and doing everything we could to help the ecosystem. As a devout follower of Jesus, I send money to help people in disasters.

I feel horrible for those suffering. People like Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, devout Christians, have foundations funding scientific research that has eradicated horrible diseases (ex: “eye worm” disease). But humans are killing Mother Earth. Why should we expect the earth to coddle us?

— Dixie Elder, Longmont