A living planet

Nani Palkhivala wrote 'The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement's Role' in 1994. The Green Movement, which works to protect the environment, had spread quickly around the world. The world's first nationwide Green party was founded in New Zealand in 1972.

Palkhivala says people's view of the world has changed. Before, they saw it as a machine, made of separate parts. Now they see it as a whole, in which everything is connected. He calls this change as great as the one brought about by Copernicus, who showed that the earth goes round the sun, not the other way round.

The earth is now seen as a living organism. And like a doctor checking a patient's pulse and temperature, scientists can check the earth's 'vital signs'. They show a patient in declining health: a sick planet.

We are not the earth's owners. We are its stewards and trustees, holding it in trust for future generations.

In 1987, the idea of sustainable development was made popular. It means meeting the needs of the present without harming the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

At the Lusaka zoo in Zambia, there is a cage with a sign: 'the world's most dangerous animal'. Inside, there is only a mirror. Whoever looks in sees himself. The point: humans are the greatest danger to the planet.