Camping as a passer by

The barbarian has plundered the soil

Exploited it with violence

And lacking culture and intelligence has not

Recompensated Her for the richness

He has seized from Her.

A hidden harmony exists

Between the Earth and the people it supports

And when imprudent societies strike a blow at what is

Beautiful in their domain

They've always been sorry for it

Cause that's when the land turns to ugliness

Where poetry -- all poetry -- disappears

Imaginations are enslaved

Spirits impoverished and

Servility seizes upon the soul

Those who love the Earth know

That the issue is to preserve Her

But also to increase Her beauty

And to give back what has been taken from her by

Sheer brutal exploitation

We know, not only as an agriculturalist and industrialist

To make better use of products and forces of the globe

But we must also learn, as an artist,

To give the land that surrounds us more

Charm.

Grace.

Majesty.

We know to realize the landscapes suggested by the painters.

Becoming the consciousness of the Earth we assume,

By the virtue of it,

A responsibility

To be in harmony

With the surrounding  nature.

In their April 19, 1991 issue of Science magazine named Lynn Margulis “Science’s  Unruly Earth Mother”

Updated 11/14/2010