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My good friend and mentor, David Brower, died in November 2000. David was eighty-eight and had lived a full life. His
lifework, strength of vision, and personality inspired us to work for a better Earth: one based on conservation, preservation,
and restoration—“CPR.” In his years he scaled hundreds of mountains, making seventy first ascents; he was
the first executive director of the Sierra Club; and he founded Friends of the Earth, the League of Conservation Voters, and
Earth Island Institute. He also helped create numerous national parks: Point Reyes, Cape Cod, and Fire Island National Seashores;
Kings Canyon, North Cascades, Redwood, and Great Basin National Parks—all benefited from his passionate attachment to
the American land. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.
Several years before he died, David
challenged me to undertake a short writing project. The world, he said, had changed so much since Moses came down from Mt.
Sinai with the Ten Commandments that we now needed to amend those directives, by including guidelines for our relationship
with Earth.
I recruited my good friend and teacher Mischa Schwartz¬mann, a retired English professor,
writer, and photographer, to help me take a modest shot at this task. When we presented the five Earth Commandments to David
Brower at Sinbad’s, his favorite restaurant along the San Francisco Bay waterfront, David came up with the sixth one.
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- We shall live in harmony with all life that flies through the air, swims in the waters, walks on the land, and
that which remains rooted.
- We shall protect and preserve the Earth and all living systems for all generations.
- We
shall restore that which has been damaged, especially the air, water, and soil.
- We shall not multiply beyond the capacity
of Earth to sustain itself and all of life.
- We shall embrace and cherish the Planet Earth, as we were born to it;
and together we shall become stewards of its future.
- What have we forgotten?
Written by David Gottfried & Mischa Schwartzmann - c 1999
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