Love Letter to the Earth

Breathing in, I calm my body.

Breathing out , my body is at peace.

Breathing in, I take refuge in Mother Earth.

Breathing out, I release all my suffering to the Earth.

Thich Nhat Hahn, Love letter to the Earth 

As a species, we need to fall in love with the Earth.  We only save those things which we love.  Currently, we see the Earth as a resource to exploit, only there for us to do what we want with it.  We have hurt the Earth.  In places, we have devastated it.  And why?  Only to fulfill our own greed and need for power.  If our species is to survive, we need to shift our thinking and our beliefs.  We need to recognize that we are of the Earth, as she is of us.  We need a radical shift in our way of being with the world.  We need to choose love.

"We allow political boundaries to obscure our interconnectedness.  What we often refer to as patriotism is actually a barrier that prevents us from seeing that we are all children of the same mother.  Every country calls its nation a motherland or a fatherland.  Every country tries to show how it loves its mother.  But in doing so, each country is contributing to the destruction of our larger mother, our collective mother, the Earth. In focusing on our human made boundaries, we forget that we are co-responsible for the whole planet."

Thich Nhat Hahn, Love letter to the Earth

In tradition indigenous cultures, it is believed that no one owns the land.  Humans walk on the land with respect and generosity.  For everything that is taken from the land, something is given in return.  When plants are harvested, an indigenous person would only remove a small portion of the available plants in order to leave enough plants to regenerate for future harvests.  Indigenous peoples lived in reciprocity with the land.  Western cultures create borders and boundaries and claim the land as our possession.  This leads to violence and scarcity as we feel that what's on our land is ours and if you are not privileged enough to have food on your land, then you fight to take it from someone else's land.  As we head into climate change, the land you live on and call your own, may no longer be able to produce food which means humans beings will be shifting and migrating to areas where food production is possible.  Because people will defend that land as their own, this will lead to violence and struggle for power.  We are all one species.  We are one people.  We are the same.  What we do to one person, we do to all.  There is no us and them. 

"Humanity needs a kind of spirituality that we can all practice together.  Dogmatism and fanaticism have been the cause of great separation and war.  Misunderstanding and irreverence have been the cause of enormous injustice and destruction.  In the twenty-first century is should be possible for us to come together and offer ourselves the kind of religion that can help unite all peoples and all nations and remove all separation and discrimination.  If existing religions and philosophies, as well as science, can make an effort to go in this direction, it will be possible to establish a cosmic religion based not on myth, belief or dogma, but on evidence and in the insight of interbeing.  And that would be a giant leap for humankind. "

Thich Nhat Hahn, Love letter to the Earth

 

A letter from the future

The Uninhabitable Earth

 I just finished reading The Uninhabitable Earth, by David Wallace-Wells, and wow, was it heavy.  Having a background in environmental science and having studied climate change, I can't say that I found anything too shocking about what was in the book, but the fact that it was all there, in one book, in 12 chapters titled The Elements of Chaos, was an eye opener and soul crusher to be sure.

In the book, Wallace-Wells lays out all of the data he's acquired through his collection of articles related to climate change.  It's a lot of data.  When most of us think of climate change, we think of unprecedented weather events, sea levels rising and maybe climate refugees.  This book exposes us to the 100s of other consequences we may not be aware of.  Below is a list of climate change consequences that I had either never thought of, or was only vaguely aware of.

Bitcoin- to be honest, I only vaguely know of bitcoin as a concept. I had no idea how it was generated or the fact that 'mining Bitcoin uses as much electricity as nations like the Netherlands'.  I still don't really understand how bitcoin is mined, but apparently the thousands of computers calculating math problems 'produces as much CO2 each year as a million transatlantic flights.'  So, we are relying on technology to save us from the destruction of the climate, while simultaneously causing destruction through excessive use of electricity the majority of which isn't green.

Food- Not only will climate change shift where we are able to grow food (our current breadbasket will become too hot and dry to grow grains- the wheat belt is shifting 160 miles each decade), it will also reduce the nutrient value of our foods.  As CO2 builds in the atmosphere, there is a decrease in the nutrient content of our food- 'drops in protein, iron, zinc, and vitamins B1,B2,B5 and B9' were found in rice, which is the protein staple in many parts of the world.  So, not only will it be more difficult to grow food, the resulting food will be less nutrient dense.

Oceans- Oceans account for 70% of the Earth's surface and absorb 1/4 of the carbon emitted by humans, and 90% of the excess heat.  As a result, the oceans are acidifying and there are now over 400 dead zones in our oceans.  Areas where there is no longer any oxygen and nothing can survive.  The oceans are a major food source for much of the human species and a very large producer of oxygen which is essential to human survival.

Air Pollution- As climate change progresses, there will be more air pollution- particles in the air as a result of desertification (think the dust bowls of the 1920s USA), and ozone smog.  With an increase in air pollution, one can expect an increase in heart disease, cancer of all kinds, respiratory disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes like premature birth.  Air pollution is also linked to worse memory, attention deficits and autism spectrum disorders.  With CO2 at 930ppm (twice what the atmospheric CO2 is now) cognitive ability declines by 21%.  At at time when we are going to need humanity to be at its best and brightest, human health will be failing.

Diseases- Boundaries that currently exist for mosquito borne diseases like yellow fever and malaria are going to shift exposing billions more people to those threats.  The number of people with disease from mosquitoes, ticks and fleas has tripled in the US in just the last 13 years.  The planet could harbour 100,000 yet-to-be-discovered viruses and we don't know the effects of climate on the bacteria in our bodies.  For example, there was a 'mega-death' event in the population of saiga- a small antelope found in Asia- as a result of warmer temperatures, increased humidity and a bacteria that had been harmless until the conditions changed.  This bacteria multiplied rapidly and travelled from the tonsil, where it had been living in harmony for many, many generations, to the liver, kidneys and spleen.  We have thousands of bacteria that live on and within our bodies.  As climate changes, will our symbiotic relations with these bacteria also change?

Imagine all of these things happening at the same time as economies are collapsing, governments are unravelling and violence on the planet is increasing.  Wallace-Wells paints a bleak picture, but it is one we all need to see.  We have already increased the planetary temperature by 1 degree and are well on our way to 2 degrees.  At this point, we can't prevent that from happening, but what we can do is avoid the absolute devastation that occurs at an increase of 3 or 4 degrees.  We know how.  We have the ways.  Now we just need the will to do it.

Education

 I watched a webinar by Robin Wall Kimmerer, the author of Braiding Sweetgrass, and she said "An educated person is a person who knows their gifts and how to share them with the world."  This made me think about how extremely far away we are as a society from that definition of an educated person.  A definition like that would allow for everyone to follow their calling, instead of becoming thousands of dollars in debt to the education money making machine.  A definition like that would allow a trades person to feel equal to a wall street banker.  A definition of education that includes the use of and sharing of our gifts would allow each and everyone of us to experience joy and peace.

Our industrialized education system has a monopoly on determining what people should learn and how they should learn it.  It has been monetized into a system where only the privileged can enter the system.  Our ideas about work have been skewed so much that we believe only the educated deserve to find work.  Try finding a job that pays more than minimum wage without having a degree to back up your abilities and you'll find there are no jobs to be found.  Our prejudice shines when a person not educated in our country applies for a position.  If they don't have a North America education, then they have no education at all.  Go back to school and prove that you obtain a degree in our schools, then we shall see if you are worthy.

Our children are really the ones who suffer.  Yes, there are some children who excel in the classroom.  They learn best through reading and writing.  Their gifts lie in academics and they would be content in our traditional classroom, except that the majority of the students in the room do not learn through sitting quietly for hours on end being told what to learn and how to learn it.  They are the explorers and the creatives; the tactile learners; the energetics or perhaps they are the dreamers; the spiritual; the artist.  Teachers have an impossible situation these days.  They are asked to teach all of these individuals at the same time within very limited parameters.  30 students, each with different gifts- some gifts are to be nurtured while others are to be squelched.  It's important that everyone fit in and follow the expectations.  Add to that all of the anxiety, anger and fear that many students carry with them and you end up with a toxic soup.  Teachers being assaulted by children as young as 4 years old.  Bullying has reached all new levels of awful.  Classrooms are being evacuated because a violent child has taken control of the classroom.  

Our education system is broken.  Our society is broken.  It's time for change.  It's time for a new story.

Hope

 With all that is going on in the world today, it can be easy to become overwhelmed.  There are so many threats to our existence that if one sits down and tries to process them all, we inevitably end up shutting down.  How does one stay open to the information without becoming overwhelmed with grief?

I have a degree in Environmental Science, and by the completion of that degree I was left with the belief that we, as a species, were killing ourselves and that extinction as a species was inevitable.  I completely shut down.  I still did little things to help the environment- I recycled and composted; I turned off lights when I left the room; I grew food in my backyard; I bought Green and organic- but I did it all knowing that those things weren't having the slightest impact on the mass destruction that was happening to our world.  My education had shown me that the people in charge, the people with power, were more interested in increasing GDP than they were in having fresh water to drink.  They were more interested in creating profits for their shareholders than they were in preserving the forests that provided them with oxygen.  They were more interested in making billions of dollars than they were in maintaining a planet that would provide a home for their children and grandchildren.  Every decision that was being made in every 'developed' country was about the economy.  It was about keeping money flowing and growing.  We had to cut down the forest because it had a greater dollar value as lumber than it did as a tree.  We had oil reserves in the ground that had to be extracted because that would save the failing economy.  What country wouldn't extract their oil?  Environmental destruction was not considered as a cost.  The planet was there for our use, was it not?  Did we not have the right to use 'our' resources however we wanted?  To this day, even with the effects of global warming being blatantly obvious and devastating, our global leaders are still saying 'well, we can't do anything about it now because it would just cost too much; it would be devastating to the economy'.  What about the devastation global warming is causing to the people?  Apparently, that is a price they are willing to pay.

When I graduated in 1998, we were already learning about global warming.  The knowledge was there.  We knew it was happening, but in the 30 years since I graduated, what has been done?  There have been some glimmers of hope as smaller countries have adopted climate friendly policies, but for the most part, there's just been a lot of talk and very little action.

So, for most of my adult life, I have had the knowledge that we were causing massive damage to the planet, that we knew we were doing it, and that we also knew how to stop it, but that the political will just wasn't there.  I shut down.  I lived my life day to day and put on blinders so that I could cope.  I'm not an activist.  I'm an educator and where I could, I would teach my students about what was happening to the world, but I did it with little hope.  Life is already hard enough without having to cope with the fate of the entire species (and most of life on earth).  It was only when I was introduced to the work of Joanna Macy that I was able to pull myself out of the abyss and start caring again.  

I See You

 When I first started this blog, I called it Life Unwitnessed because personally, I felt that no one saw me.  I had no great love in my life, and while I had a wonderful circle of friends, I never felt understood.  Over the last 10 years, that has changed for me.  I have met the love of my life and have worked toward becoming a more authentic version of myself.  Now, my life is witnessed and what a gift that is.

However, there is still so much life out there that is not witnessed.  I'm talking in an ecological and societal sense.  So many of our world's issues arise from not seeing the other.  I believe that one of my greatest strengths is holding space for others- witnessing their lives and hearing their stories.  I will continue to write here in this blog as witness to the things I learn and the stories I hear.

Truth

I’ve been thinking a lot about truth today and how there is no such thing in today’s society.  As we all struggle to make sense of COVID 19, we are having to decide whose truth to believe.  And while I agree in part that we all have our own truth, there must be some universal truths on which a society can be founded.  Without that common acceptance of what is true, the grounding falls apart and society collapses.  Perhaps that is the state that we are rapidly approaching.

It is of particular interest to watch Donald Trump at this time of uncertainty.  He says something on a Tuesday, in full press or on Twitter, and denies it on Wednesday.  He lies every day, and there are no consequences.  How does this happen?  How is it that a world leader can say things that are bare lies, of which there is evidence to the contrary, and he is not challenged or removed?  It’s not the first time in history that this has happened.  In a place and time where it is accepted to see your own truth, you can join together with others who see the truth as you do, and together, you create power behind that truth.  Once a group has power and can create fear in those who disagree with that truth, there are no bounds to what that group can do.

What is truth?  How do we know what is true?  Take COVID 19.  It is new.  The human species has never experienced it before.  There is research being done.  There is anecdotal evidence.  There is past experience with other pandemics.  There are religious beliefs.  With so many different truths, from so many different sources, how can we sort through the information to discern what is true?  There was a time when religion held so much power that no one would lie because they would fear repercussions from a vengeful god.  This is the reasoning behind swearing on a bible “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth so help me God.”  I feel that that oath means a lot less than it used to.  After religion came science.  Science has to be true.  It is based on the scientific method which is unbiased, objective and fact based.  People put their faith into science to provide all the answers.  However, any system can be corrupted.  One only has to look at the questions that are asked or the projects that get funded to see the inherent bias that can appear.  There are so many stories of scientists who pursued pure science only to come up with answers that a government or an industry didn’t like, and suddenly their funding disappeared, or their credibility was destroyed, or in extreme cases, they find themselves in prison or dead.

In searching for truth, we ask questions.  Questioning is not the enemy.  Challenging truth with intellect and consideration is the foundation of knowledge.  Without questioning what is known, there would be no growth.  Questioning comes from a place of hope, an interest in finding truth, a sharing of knowledge.  A good question can create a shift in thinking that allows exploration of something previously unthought of.  A good question can open the door to sought after answers and missing information.  It is unfortunate that we have come to a time and place where questions are perceived as threats and exploration is unwelcome.  So much has been built around a set of beliefs that to question those beliefs and to suggest that is possible to live a different way is to threaten the power of those who control the narrative. 

So, where can we find truth because without truth, there can be no trust.  Without truth, there can be no true knowledge.  Without trust and knowledge, we are left with a sense of suppression, depression and desperation.  The consequences of such a state are devastating. Society falls apart until a new truth can be established.  I guess the question I ask now is what do we want that new truth to be?

Story

I am currently reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and I came across these paragraphs which really spoke to me.  Kimmerer is a professor of Botany and she took a survey of her Environmental studies students.

Later in the survey, they were asked to rate their knowledge of positive interactions between people and land.  The median response was 'none.' 

How is it possible that in twenty years of education they cannot think of any beneficial relationships between people and the environment?  Perhaps the negative examples they see every day- brownfields, factory farms, suburban sprawl- truncated their ability to see some good between humans and the earth...when we talked about this after class, I realized that they could not even imagine what beneficial relations between their species and others might look like.  How can we begin to move toward ecological and cultural sustainability if we cannot even imagine what the path feels like?  

We are a people of stories.  We need those stories to guide is in who we are.  For a very long time, the human story has been one of dominance over nature.  It has been a story of our species using the planet to our own end.  We are separate.  Our beliefs have taken us out of nature and put us above it; we are more important.  Our stories tell us that the planet is there to provide for us, indefinitely.  We are taught that we are resourceful and intelligent, and that science and ingenuity will always find a way for survival.  Our stories are lies, or at the very least, incomplete.

What we need now are stories that reflect the true nature of life on Earth.  Resources are finite.  There is a limit to what we can take.  There is a limit to how much of our waste the planet can absorb.  There is a limit to what we can engineer and manipulate.  There are fundamental basics that are required for life on earth and we are playing with and destroying these at an alarming rate.  Clean water, fertile soil, breathable air, thriving oceans and an atmosphere that is conducive to human life.  Without these, our species does not survive.  Our stories do not tell us this.  Our stories do not include lessons of how to sustain and nurture these fundamentals for life.

We need new stories.

If our students can not even imagine a world where we have a positive impact on the planet, how can we hope to survive on the planet?  Are we destined to be a plague on the earth?  Right now, we are parasites sucking the life out of the very planet we rely on for survival.  How do we change our relationship from parasitic to symbiotic?  How do we heal our relationship with the planet?

We change our story.  We have to.  We no longer have a choice.

But how do we change it and what do we change it to? 

Spring Equinox

Today I created a ritual for myself for the first time.  Being the spring equinox, and a time of rebirth and growth, I decided to release those thing to which I was holding on that no longer served me.  Following the guidance of people in my life, I wrote down those things which keep coming up for me.  I see them in dreams.  They cross through my thoughts and occupy my brain.  They bring up old emotions and make me revisit, relive the trauma over and over.  Today I wrote them all down.  I went out into the sunny, cold day and started a very small fire in a metal dish.  I began by burning some sage and inviting the ancestors.  I asked them to support me in releasing that which no longer serves me.  I asked them to cleanse my spirit so that I may grow and realize the person I am.  After the fire produced flame (I can't say it really 'got started' but there was enough to burn the pieces of paper I had written on), I burned the thoughts and events, one by one, reflecting on each before putting it into the flame.  I looked for lessons learned and perspective provided.  I looked for the medicine in each situation.  I held the medicine and released the pain, trauma and emotion attached to each one.  The final thing I released were all the emotions that are holding me back- self hate, control, fear.  I then relit the sage and thanked the ancestors for their assistance, and cleared myself of all that I had been holding.  Aho.

The Post

I just got back from seeing the movie 'The Post'.  What a great movie.  So interesting.

There are a few things that have struck me after watching this movie.  The first is that it is amazing how only 40 years ago, it was quite normal for it to be quite unfathomable for a woman to be the head of a company and how men were expected to make all the decisions.  Here was a woman, who had grown up in the company, and then had her father give the company to her husband.  It is only when her husband dies that she is given the chance to lead that which is her father's legacy.  She is questioned and doubted by all the men on her board, and investors shy away because they don't believe a woman will make them profits. 

Thank you women who came before me.  Thank you.  You have paved the way for women to shine, to take control, to be leaders.  You have given us a voice and the strength to use it.  I hope we will continue to use that voice as an ally to those whose voices are still silenced.