Carolyn Raffensperger, Science and Environmental Health Network

Carolyn Raffensperger is executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, based in Ames, Iowa, which advocates the wise application of science to efforts to protect the environment and public health.

Being an environmentalist these days means that you rarely get good news. And in my own life, it seems that everywhere I turn I hear yet more sorrow. In the last couple of days, I've spoken to several colleagues who were in the middle of tests for cancer or whose spouses have had cancer. Maybe it's my peer group reaching middle age. Maybe it's the knowledge that the planet is showing signs of irreparable wear and tear -- and the understanding that our health is intimately tied to the Earth's health. My own beloved husband goes in tomorrow for a full staging of his metastatic cancer. Has it progressed? Is it laying low?

Today I asked a friend if he felt that his suffering was so overwhelming that it interfered with his ability to see the pain and problems around him -- or if he felt that his suffering was also a reflection of the troubles of the world. There is a beautiful Jewish legend about the Lamed-vavniks. According to the legend, at any moment in time, there are 12 just and holy people who take on the suffering of the whole world. Through their prayers and righteousness they hold off the just wrath of God.

I think of my many environmental colleagues. These are grim times to be working for a whole and beautiful Earth. We may be heading for war (the ultimate in environmental catastrophes), the world is heating up through global climate change, the Earth's children are suffering increasing learning disabilities and other health problems that may have environmental origins. And then, on top of it all, many of us in the environmental movement have our own health problems. Could it be that environmentalists like author Sandra Steingraber, scientist Theo Colborn, and biologist Mary O'Brien are actually our present-day Lamed-vavniks? I grew up with Andy Warhol's promise of 15 minutes of fame. What if, instead, we were each given 15 minutes of being just and holy men and women?

Actually, the fame idea isn't too farfetched. When my niece, Caitlin, saw a video of me giving a speech at Bioneers, she asked if I was famous. Then we read a beautiful children's book entitled Nobody Particular about Diane Wilson, the magnificent shrimper who tried to sink her fishing boat to protest pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. Caitlin asked if Diane had done more for the Earth than I had. Was Diane more famous then I was?

My sister later translated that question for me. At Caitlin's age, kids are trying to understand fame. We give children a big dose of Britney Spears, but they rarely get role models of creative, dedicated, even eccentric people committed to the common good. Caitlin was amazed that you could be working for the Earth and be famous. Gosh! I suspect she is on the rocky road of finding her 15 minutes of being a Lamed-vavnik. I don't know if I would really wish that on her. But I do know that the companions on that road are wise and good -- the best companions for the journeywork of this lovely planet.