For those of us who do not wish this to happen (because we feel we have a vested interest in the survival of our species) and who take the matter seriously enough to be willing to devote our lives to it, there should be a new order of Knighthood, and I suggest that we call this the Order of the Knights of Gaia.
The word 'knight' still has a gallant, romantic and chivalrous ring to it, even though for the last couple of hundred years the knights we know of have been pot-bellied, sedentary, treble-chinned businessmen who have contributed liberally to the party funds. The Knights of Gaia will change this image. We will not contribute a penny to the party funds. We will not be pot-bellied or treble chinned. We will keep ourselves fit and tough for the job that we have to do.
A Knight of Gaia can be either man or woman, or anything in between. The only qualification to become a Knight will be:
The willingness to take a vow, out loud and with sufficient conviction to convince the listeners, to a quorum of six Knights of Gaia. The vow will be something like the following, although when there are more Knights than there are now the form of it might be modified:
'I vow that I will devote my energies, during the whole of my life on Earth, to protecting the integrity, variety, and beauty of Earthly Life, and to vanquishing the forces of evil that threaten to destroy it.'
If the listening Six are convinced of the sincerity of the postulant, she/he will be admitted into the Order. It will then be the new Knight's duty to: study, in depth, the issues involved, to take any action possible to conserve and aid the Life on our planet, to avoid any action that damages it, to try to convince other people of the seriousness of the situation and of the need to take action about it.
The Order is already founded. There are at present five Knights (male and female) and as they are too few and dispersed to make a quorum, they are to have the power of creating other Knights until the Order is larger. It is then hoped that there will be local Chapels, where Knights can meet and encourage each other.
But do not become a postulant unless you are deadly serious. The dragons that we must fight are serious - very.
Sir John Seymour KOG, Killowen, New Ross, Co. Wexford, Eire (tel 353 51 88156).