Yesterday we mentioned that we’d been part of the most recent “This Moment on Earth” book event in Pittsburgh. There have been some good followup discussions of that event on this site and elsewhere, as noted in the ongoing comments and updates to that previous post. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a more detailed retrospective of the event and a roundup of related blog posts in this space.

You know, it’s not every day that a guy gets to start off a blog entry by saying, “Well, so I just got off the phone with John and Teresa Kerry, and this is what they said to tell you…”

But I did in fact just get off the phone with John and Teresa Kerry, and this is what they said to tell you (paraphrased into my own words, of course, I can only scribble notes with a phone held to my ear so fast…)

—Preserving our planet is not an intellectual exercise. It is an ethical issue, a moral imperative, a calling, an obligation. If you are a person of faith, then that should inform your actions here on the Earth that we inhabit. Even if you do not profess a particular form of faith, your ethics and your own morality as a human being call you to be a steward of the world around you. It’s the right thing to do, on all levels.

—The Earth that we inhabit is one interconnected entity, and we are all part of it. The Amazon rain forests have thrived for countless millenniae despite their growing in an average of only six inches of earth because of the complex system of plants, animals, and so forth that thrive by living together there. We need to act to preserve those rain forests; we also need to act to preserve each other, because we are the environment and the environment is us.

—The environment per se may be bigger than each of us are ourselves, but it is still approachable and accessible to all of us on an individual level. Signing global treaties and passing pro-environment legislation is one thing, but what really makes a difference is what average everyday people (like you, and you, and you, not to mention me and the guy over there talking on his cell phone) can do when they care enough to take action in their own backyards.

—Yes, the science behind all the warnings we’re getting about climate change these days is daunting. But admitting that is not just a pointless cry for help. We can, we should, and we are changing things for the better every day now, and what that means is that we could and should do even more every chance we get.

Well, there ya go. And that’s what the real message that John and Teresa wanted me to share with you today is:

—Hope, not fear.

—Belief, not bewilderment.

—Action, not avoidance.

“Bless the beasts and children” is not just a bible-school quote or a bumper-sticker catch phrase, y’all. It’s an encouragement, a call to service, a request for assistance, a cry for help, a mantra to be mumbled and a demand to be shouted from the ramparts.

The Earth is your mother, and your mother needs your help. How can you possibly say no to that?

(Oh, yeah, and lest we forget why I was on the phone with John and Teresa Kerry in the first place…)