Hello Fellow Earthlings!
I was scheduled to do a Substack live with a special guest but they had a last minute schedule change. Since I had already changed into real clothes and spruced up my hair I figured I’d go ahead and do a short video celebrating our magnificent planet!
In many ways Earth Day is our most unifying global holiday. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, or what race, or nationality, we are all human beings living on this one, beautiful, blue and white planet. We are all citizens of planet Earth.
As a professional environmentalist, Earth Day can be a bit bittersweet, a blend of loving and cherishing mixed with the weight of knowing too much about hard things. Today I am choosing the loving and appreciating all the little beauties all around. This morning during my meditation time on my deck, one of my honey bees kept buzzing around me. Then a blue jay (scrub jay specifically) dropped in and took multiple splashing sessions in the little bird bath beneath the rose bush.
I think it is useful to celebrate the many good things happening to and for this planet. So many humans are engaged in helping conserve and restore our fellow species. Monarch butterflies saw a dramatic increase in population in their wintering grounds in Mexico. Indonesia has banned elephant riding as part of tourism. Croatia has been declared free of landmines after thirty-one years of careful removal.
And here’s my favorite — right this moment California Condors are incubating an egg high in a redwood tree in Redwood National Forest. This is the first time in over a century that condors have nested in the Pacific Northwest. Last month I travelled through that very forest on my way back to Oregon from southern California. It is cool to think that I might have been very close to these magnificent creatures. May they hatch a healthy baby!
I’ll leave you with this gorgeous prayer created by my friend Dennis Wiancko:
Our Mother’s Prayer
Our Mother, Whose name is Earth,
Hallowed be Your ground
And Your skies
And your rolling seas
Your gardens thrive; Your spirit alive
Through woodlands, streams,
Mountains and plains
Everywhere
Grant us this day our needs for tomorrow
And refresh us with Your living waters
Forgive us our mistreatment
As we would forgive those who cause You harm
Lift us from negligence, and deliver us from greed,
For Yours is the home, and the beauty,
And the life that sustains us,
And we would love, respect, and care for You
Now and ever, ever forward.
Much love,
Cylvia
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