While many yearn for a healthier Earth, the state of the world has become painful to face, and people have become numb to it or turned a blind eye for the sake of self-protection. Some have lost hope that there is enough time to turn the tide or doubt that it’s even possible. But hope is the very ingredient missing from all the statistics, calculations and discoveries from the scientific world and at the core of a concept known as Earth Management.

Earth Management is about making a connection between human consciousness and the health of the Earth. Collective consciousness has the power to make or break our society and save or destroy our planet. The key is for each of us to have a sense of responsibility and a conscious ownership concerning the Earth. True peace can arise from an awakening of true human value.

There is a philosophy in the Korean tradition called Hongik Ingan. It speaks to a universal benefit for all of humanity. A Hongik Ingan is simply a person who lives for the good of all. It’s one who has awakened to the fact that healing themselves is helping others, which in turn is helping the planet. The only way to truly create a healthy planet, starts and ends with this principle and absolute knowing that a human’s true nature is not separate from that of the Earth. There is a connectedness to everything, and somewhere beyond the stress and desire for relief and comfort is the Hongik instinct—a wanting to do something good for the world.

We as humans have lost the knowing and sense that everything is connected. We can see how this has dissolved our humanity, leading us to act out of survival instincts only, creating hate, pain and destruction. The kind, loving, courageous best parts of our human character have been dispelled largely from our collective narrative. But there is hope in Earth Management, which holds the vision of coexistence for the health of humanity and the Earth, together. This begins with healing of the individual and reconnecting to the sense of one’s true nature. Essentially, the energy and state of consciousness of an individual has a direct impact on families and communities, creating a ripple effect out into nature and all of humanity.

If the individual focuses on developing sensitivity, harmony, diligence and productivity with empathy and integrity, then the collective can work together to find the solutions to the problems the Earth faces today. Earth Management represents the responsibility of the individual to manage and take care of themselves and others. When like-minded individuals share the same concern and earnest desire to move towards peace, coexistence can be cultivated and the hope for a harmonious future and a healthy planet can emerge.