DEFINITION AND ORIGINS

Planetarianism is a very small and slowly growing religious sect that identifies itself closely with the earth and its living inhabitants. The sect recognizes the fact that in all the known universe, the earth is the only place where we know we can survive, and the preservation of it as a source of life is paramount to our existence.

Planetarianism was founded in 1977, when a large group of environmental activists gathered at the Little Tennessee River to demonstrate in support of the snail darter, whose very existence was threatened by the proposed Tellico dam. The snail darter was the first animal on whose behalf a suit was filed under the Endangered Species Act. The case went to the Supreme Court, and although construction of the dam was postponed, it eventually was completed. (Other populations of the snail darter have subsequently been discovered elsewhere.) The founding members, who are adamant about retaining their anonymity, have confirmed that they were over 120 in number and that they represented every state in the U.S. (except Nevada and Florida), plus Canada, Norway, Belize, Dahomey, Turkey, Burma, Japan, and Portuguese Timor.

The group camped out for three months at the dam site and spent a great deal of time discussing environmental issues and others topics of interest. They decided that the principles they espoused as part of the environmental movement should be codified and disseminated. Some in the gathering expressed dissatisfaction with existing religious traditions and decided that the moral code which grew out of environmental concerns was at least as good, if not better, than those promoted by the faiths in which they had been raised, which often contained outmoded, contradictory or impossible instructions. It was decided that the canon should be a living document, subject to change, and that any modifications, additions or subtractions would require unanimous approval by all practicing members. (The mechanism by which this is accomplished is not known.)