Here’s the message we need on Earth Day: The more we know about ourselves and our home, the more we must recognize that the only planet that can sustain us is the one we evolved on. From Arwen Nicholson and Raphaelle Haywood:

“We are complex lifeforms with complex needs. We are entirely dependent on other organisms for all our food and the very air we breathe. The collapse of Earth’s ecosystems is the collapse of our life-support systems. Replicating everything Earth offers us on another planet, on timescales of a few human lifespans, is simply impossible.”

Science fiction fantasy, from Star Trek to Star Wars, assumes we can flit about the universe and make ourselves at home any darn place we please. But as Nicholson and Haywood explain, that’s impossible.

The notion of humans as intergalactic cosmopolitans arose from the current mindset of radical individualism, which sees humans as discrete beings who thrive when the restraints of society and tradition are severed. But what really happens when we lose our connections to people and places is an uprooted alienation not just from others, but ourselves. That’s what’s driving the simmering rage and mutual antagonism of modern politics and culture.

This Earth Day, let’s take the time to renew our connections to our roots. Time is running out–because there is no Planet B.