In view of the fact that the world looks pretty somber, that so many political systems are corrupt or don’t seem to work well and the ecological system worldwide seems to be in a disastrous state, I sometimes I ask myself, What difference can I make? I am only one of 7.5 billion people. I try to recycle as much as I can. I try to avoid buying food or liquids in plastic containers. I mostly buy local and seasonal vegetables and fruit, and of course, others do the same as I. But, has the world improved? Have we changed anything at all?
If I look around my home I realize that I probably have items from each and every country in the world. The wood of my furniture might be from Canada, the cloth on my upholstery might have been printed in India and then manufactured in Thailand. The steel from my pots most likely comes from China. The coffee I drink is from Brazil, and the tea is shipped from Japan. The pasta I eat is from Italy, and my dishwasher is a German product. The wool from my sweater is from an Australian sheep and my woolen rug comes from Iran. And though I try to buy produce locally, I still buy oranges flown in from Israel, avocados from Mexico, the wine I sip is from Spain and the glass I drink out of might be from France. I could go on and on.
So what does this mean? Our interdependence is obvious. To deny it would be foolish. The “www.” says it all: world-wide-web. In only seconds we can reach out to another on the other side of the planet. If I imagine that each and everyone of these 7.5 billion people are connected through this invisible net, then the “Butterfly Effect” makes sense: a butterfly flapping its wings in New Mexico can cause a hurricane in China.
Last year on Maui I helped my Hawaiian Hula group weed a piece of land and free the endangered native plants from the invasive, foreign species. As far as we could see, the slope we stood upon was overgrown. I soon learned the difference between the invasive plants and the ones we wanted to save. We were about a dozen people spread out ready to go to work. With a small sharp knife, I began cutting the weeds. After working for about two hours, we took a break. My back was sore. I looked at the piece of land I worked on. How small it was compared to the vast space that still needed to be cleared. We continued for another hour or two. We looked at each other and read each others’ minds, What do you think? Does this make a difference? There is still so much we could do. Our wordless expressions said it all.
Nevertheless, we all continued, we bent over again and kept on working. After each little plant I freed from the strangulation of the invasive one, I could feel how happy it was; how it could breathe again. No matter how small a place I weeded I knew, to that little plant I freed, I made a difference.
Recently, also on Maui, I paid a visit to some friends who rented a studio close to the ocean. After lunch, we decided to go for a beach walk. They took two garbage bags with them and told me, “You know, yesterday we found so much trash on our walk that we decided to bring bags from now on.”
And sure enough, with the change of the weather, the ocean washed up hundreds of large and small pieces of garbage to the beach. From broken boards to drinking straws to plastic cups, ropes, bottle tops and old buoys. We even found an old abandoned surfboard. In just one hour we collected and filled the two garbage bags with about 40 pounds of trash! We started off as three people. At the end of the hour, we were six.
Two women, tourists from Connecticut joined in after we showed them what we were collecting. “This is unbelievable,” one of them remarked. “I wasn’t aware that there was so much trash.” said the other.
A young teenage girl said, “I will bring a trash bag myself next time I come to the beach. But, you know, it is so much nicer to do this job together.”
Then, there was the little surfer boy of maybe only nine years old who came running out of the water with a long piece of rope and asked if he could put it into my trash-bag. As we looked over the stretch of beach we cleaned, new debris of our affluent society was already floating to the sand, replacing the trash we collected. The garbage seemed endless, and we questioned whether or not we made a difference. Nevertheless, there was 40 pounds less trash on the beach that day and maybe a few more people who became conscious about the situation and the danger our trash creates for our ocean’s marine life and sea creatures.
The awareness of the interconnectedness and interdependence gives me the motivation to do what little I can do to help make this world a little better. The Butterfly Effect, recognizing the chaotic, fragile nature of our world gives me new insight, power and wisdom. The scientific theory that a single occurrence, no matter how small, can change the course of the universe forever reassures me, that I indeed can make a difference.