Is it just me or do we all sometimes get tired of hearing about how we need to save the world?

Don’t we all have days when we feel like there are too many problems out there to care, so instead we scroll mindlessly through our Facebook feeds looking for something to soothe our brains into passivity? It’s only human.

And even when our own problems or obsessions feel heavy and all-consuming enough—our messy break-up or newest love, the size of our waistlines (too big), the size of our bank account (too small), how many comments we got on our last Instagram post—we still can forget about the big picture.

And it is a big picture. Much bigger than our own little lives. But one that our little lives depend on.

Because saving the world is not about saving the world. It is about saving ourselves.

And we know this really, but we choose to ignore it. If we didn’t, more of us would be doing more.

If your survival or your children’s or grandchildren’s survival was under threat—immediate threat—wouldn’t you stop scrolling and act? Do something? Anything that might save yourself and them?

And if you didn’t know what that was, wouldn’t you do everything possible to find out?

Well, you should know that we are under threat because we have placed our planet under threat.

It may be easy to ignore pleas to save the rain forests or the whales, or at least easy enough to just share that terrible video on Facebook, say ‘How awful.’ and go on living our lives just as before. But if the plea was to save ourselves, wouldn’t we pay attention, and not just for the next five seconds? Wouldn’t we make change and ask for change and demand change if our lives depended on it?

The truth is that they do. If not our lives, the lives of those who come after us—and according to new evidence, this won’t be as long after us as we had planned.

Nature does not care if we live or die. Truly it does not. It was here before us and it will be here long after we are gone.

Today is World Oceans Day. So take two minutes to watch either of these two videos today. I bet after one, you’ll find time for both.

Then decide whether sharing this article is really enough?

Nature Is Speaking. Will we listen?

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Relephant:

If You Love Nature…Especially the Ocean. {Video}

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Author: Khara-Jade Warren

Editor: Alli Sarazen

Image: Video Still