Our Beautiful Earth

Last Friday was Earth Day, and with all that is happening with the war in Ukraine, gun violence, and political bickering, it feels like an important reminder of the primary challenge we are experiencing – the slow devastation of our planet. We are like frogs that when you drop them in a pan of boiling water, will jump right out but if you put them in a pan with cold water and slowly turn up the heat, they don’t jump out as they are slowly boiled to death.

At times it feels like this challenge is so big and I am such a small part of the whole, but I remind myself my actions matter just like yours do. If you are like me, I’m constantly asking what I can do to add to the healing of our planet rather than its destruction.

Little changes matter. Some of the things I’ve added into my life are buying energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances. I also use bamboo or recycled toilet paper because every year a million trees are cut down in the boreal forest of Canada for products like toilet paper and this forest is part of the lungs of our planet.

I also don’t eat meat anymore for is one of the greatest contributors to the excess carbon in our atmosphere, not only because of the deforestation of the rain forests (another part of the lungs of our planet) but also because of the carbon emissions of cattle.

I am continually living in the question of how I can give more than I take from the Earth. I drive as little as possible as I am saving my money for either a hybrid or electric car. I buy very little clothing and when I do, I buy it from Thred Up, which is an amazing used clothing site where you find some really creative choices. While doing general shopping, I’m always asking myself, do I really need this. And when something breaks in my house, I do my absolute best to repair it rather than following the knee-jerk reaction of just buying something new. I also live in a city with easy access to recycling most everything. I must admit moments of being very proud of myself when, on garbage day, my garbage can has one small bag in it.

One of my latest forays into being a part of the healing of our planet is joining 8 Billion Trees. It is an organization that educates people about their carbon footprint as they commit to saving and planting 8 billion new trees. One of the main reasons why our planet is heating up is the deforestation of our world for trees are one of the most powerful ways to lessen the carbon in our atmosphere. Since human beings have shown up, we have destroyed over half of the world’s forests and so many species that it makes my heart ache.

One of the things I love about their website is that they have carbon footprint calculators because carbon is one of the main culprits in heating up Earth. With these calculators, you can discover how much you are adding to the heating of our planet. There are also really great ideas of what you can do to lessen it, including carbon offset projects.

There are so many other things that we can do but by far the most important one happens in a shift of perception – in how you view this time of great challenges. In the movie Mindwalk, a physicist is talking to a politician about all the challenges the Earth is facing now, showing how they are interconnected. The politician then says, “Suppose you are right, and everything is connected to everything else. Where do you start?” And the physicist responds by saying:

“By the way you are seeing the world. You are still searching for the right piece to fix first. All the problems are fragments of one single crisis, a crisis of perception.”

What do they mean by that? I invite you to listen to two very important radio shows I have recorded that use the war in Ukraine as an invitation to see all the challenges we are facing through new eyes – a shift of perception. What I offer in these shows can be easily applied to becoming a part of the healing of our planet. The first is show is: Can This War Heal Us. The second is: We Need You.

Remember, all the violence, greed, and disconnect we have experienced throughout history come from minds that do not see that every single part of this Earth – every single person, plant, animal, insect, molecule of water, and particle of earth is a sacred and necessary part of a living whole. And when you finally see this, there is no way you can do harm to yourself, to others or to our planet.

It may not seem that what you do in your daily life matters, but it really does. I like to say… which drop of water was not important in creating the ocean. I invite you to become a part of this new ocean of consciousness that understands we are all walking, talking expressions of this beautiful being we call Earth, and our thoughts, words, and actions can add to the healing or to the destruction of our beautiful home.