Welcome

Home is where the hearth is.
From the beginnings, since we discovered fire the hearth has been the centre of the home. The hearth fire protected us from wild animals, cooked our foods and warmed us. Caring for the hearth was caring for the home.

Homes were built around hearths. And the words home and hearth were used together for a long time.

The Earth is our larger home - our only home. Early man worshipped her as a Goddess, ancient cultures still do.

Much of human existence was spent in controlling Nature and wresting a living from her. With today's technology we are not dependent on her as our forefathers were. We are proud of that. But the new ways of living with its technological successes allow us to wrest Nature's resources as never before.

But Nature takes only so much and the reactions are setting in. In a changing climate, in global warming, in the destruction of the earth's biodiversity.

Life in our cities and technological success makes us forget that we are part of this web - that all things are connected and what happens to the plants or animals today may happen to us in the coming years. Earth will adjust its balance give or take a million years. Evolution will probably let new species emerge.

But where will our children be in all this upheaval? Will our children survive? As carers of the hearth and home we need to become carers of the earth. We need to move from hearthcare to earthcare.