“The Earth asks more of us than gratitude.”
–Robin Wall Kimmerer*
A few years ago, I was in a workshop for social and environmental activists at a beautiful retreat center in the northwest New Mexico desert. At one point the leaders instructed us all to go outdoors and speak our pain and frustration into the land.
A workshop attendee draped in beads and scarves spoke up. “Yes,” she knowingly proclaimed, “Mother Earth can take our garbage. So let’s give it all to her and let her turn it into compost.”
As one of the few locals in the workshop, I was consumed by a burst of rage. “No!” I shouted. “The land here has been suffering from human actions for 500 years already! First the Spanish settlers with their sheep; then the Anglo cattle ranchers, along with loggers and miners; and now the frackers and developers. And we think we can give the Earth yet more of our toxins, and, not only that, proclaim that that’s actually good for Her?!” [Read more…] about How to Really Help the Earth
When I was about 9 years old, another girl and I were discussing what our favorite color was. My little friend, in a burst of childish patriotism, dramatically declaimed that her favorite colors were red, white and blue. I replied unhesitatingly that my favorite color was green—and that it was “underneath” all the other colors. We wouldn’t even have red, white and blue, I declared, if we didn’t have green.
After writing Gaia’s Blog for over a year, I’m circling back to the most central questions: Who is Gaia? How can we understand and unite with Her as fully as possible?