Rule #2: Always include local nature - the land, the water, the air, the native creatures-within the membership of the community.
So often, we take action thinking only as far as the legal boundaries of our site of activity. In Connecticut, where town rule is the legal entity and not county wide rule, we limit our thinking to the municipal boundaries. Limiting our minds this way leads to actions that may adversely impact natural resources beyond those borders. A leaking septic system may not affect our own well, but certainly will affect water quality downstream from the problem.
Also, pesticides applied to our own lawns affect the water and soil far beyond our own borders. Likewise in agriculture, poor soil management practices and long-term usage of huge amounts of pesticides have created a monstrous loss of topsoil from our whole continent.
To see the results of this narrow thinking, look at satellite photos of the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. By googling this you will find many photographs that show the result of not including nature, local or otherwise, in our thinking.
On our own properties and in our own lives, we have many opportunities every day to consider the results and affects of our actions on our immediate environment, and ultimately the planet.
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