Dear Earth, in this journey that we call our existence, we produce, consume, we eat, drink, breathe and survive because you are the very essence of life.
Your voice is clearer than our words, stronger than our laws, and more just than our principles. How do we renew the promises of our Original Trust, and restore the confidence that you gave to past generations?
Dear Earth, this Original Trust is an agreement. You have whispered its many names and have warned us of deep contradictions in our understanding of that trust.
Now a poison threatens you, us, our home. Its identity might be cloaked but its name is not a mystery. Some have listened, but mostly we have ignored the signs. We have inflicted a deep wound on our own house, and don’t seem to know how or if we will heal.
We stand for justice and liberty, but too often brought to our knees by tyranny, alienation and frustration. How do we come to shiver under the hypocrisy of our own principles in practice?
Dear Earth, hunger and thirst chase many families from neighbor to neighbor, leaving our household in ruin. Those who profit most are those who perpetuate our crises. They hoard wealth and power, have faces and fingerprints, yet they seem beyond the reach of the myriad victims left out of this accursed share we call the General Economy.
We who have placed faith in a class of misleaders must restore our Original Trust if we are to recover.
Dear Earth, it hasn’t all been bad. For within us, there is a deep love and we hold to this passion as the very fabric of our existence. That love remains, even though we are sick.
Your voice has meaning: sometimes vague and unknowable, intuitive as water, other times as blunt as a stone, sharp as a sword. For millennia, most of us have listened and learned the lessons. We have witnessed mutual exchange among species, the interconnectedness of life. We have taken to heart the sciences and arts of interdependence.
Our manifesto is how we measure that relationship. It seeks to restore our house, our ecology and economy.
Our union with you counts.
We count.
Love Letter for our Afflicted Earth:
Towards an Intemerate Manifesto
Directed by Arnie Saiki
Text- Arnie Saiki and Chanzo Greenidge
Video Editor-Ruth Chon
Camera footage -Robert Scott
Reading by Twylight Seven
Music composed by Sharon Hurvitz
Performance by Sharon Hurvitz-piano
Otto Saiki- Violin
Produced by the Intemerate Working Group on Data, Statistics and Valuation,
with thanks to the Reweaving the Ecological Mat (REM) initiative:
the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), Pacific Theological College (PTC) and the Oceanic Center of the Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific (USP).
Appearances by Sean Meadows, Florence Saia and Tamana Tenehoe, Maima Vaai, Chanzo Greenidge, Harriet Heywood, Arnie Saiki, Daphney Kiki, and Tapiwa Nhidza.
Special thanks to the World Council of Churches (WCC), Ecological and Economic Justice Program for their support.
