The premise of Not On My Planet! is a simple one: If you really wouldn’t want your child playing with it in your very own backyard, then maybe we shouldn’t want it on our planet either.

Would you really, truly, want (fill in the blank with something from the list below) in your very own backyard for your children to be playing around, in, or on? We can no longer afford a purely local, regional, or national frame of mind any more. All issues have become global issues and affect everyone alive whether we like it or not. Even if an activity produces something convenient, be truthful and take a stand. Not in my backyard has evolved into: Not On My Planet!

a nuclear power plant?
a nuclear waste storage facility?
most chemical plants?
a petroleum refinery?
a strip mine?
a feed lot?
a waste incinerator?
a toxic dump?
people with guns pointing at you?
a secret police?
a standing army?
a current technology power plant?
a current technology manufacturing plant or factory?
a clear cut or deforestation project?
a sweatshop?
an institution that utilizes child labor?
a weapon of mass destruction?
a field of land mines?
RPG’s?
a sea of plastic bags?
fossil fuel emissions?

The attitude behind Not On My Planet! doesn’t apply to just tangible things either. N.o.m.p! can address attitudes, thought-forms, and concepts too. Do I really want my child playing in the backyard with:

Ignorance
Greed
Selfishness
Hate
Overpopulation
Meanness
Intolerance
Hunger
Aggression
Abuse
Violence
Racism
Malnourishment
Superficialness
Misogyny
Indifference

So why would we want them on our planet either?

Because we have to identify what we don’t want in order to make room for envisioning what we do want. Imagine what we do want. When all is said and done, what kind of a planet do you want to live on?

We fully acknowledge that it is very important to keep this as realistic as possible. We recognize that most of us are thoroughly addicted to fossil fuels and the majority of the things that we wouldn’t want in our own backyards. But it is extremely important to hold a vision of a desirable future in order to begin to make it real, and to begin to take the steps necessary to get there. Think of it this way: If you are going to redecorate your living room, you begin by identifying what you’d like, and that leads you to identifying what has to go in order to make room for what is new. Identifying the things we don’t want is just as important a step as focusing on what we do want to create, and in our mental houses, makes room for a clearer vision of what can be…