Earth Day for me is a bit of a conundrum in a posthuman context. Posthumanism essentially de-centers humanity from its exalted status above the rest of creation, including all our relations, i.e., our arbor elders, plant-kin, and creature-kin, the miraculous water (elixir of life), the refreshing, life-giving air, and the generative, nutrient-rich soil, all together teeming with bio-buzz - wild song, pungent scent, dazzling light and scintillating energy.
While humanity continues its planetary pillaging, ravaging entire eco-systems, and our wild-kin are summarily displaced, edged out, plundered, hunted, sometimes tortured and starved to death, exploited for commodified "resources," and in many cases, driven to extinction, we celebrate a day for our whole biosphere - beyond humanity and our particular concerns. It is Earth's Day.
While much of what I do is help families, individuals, and organizations navigate significant change by helping them "move healthfully," and mimic Earth's own processes (biomimicry), I often feel inadequate to care for the whole shifting, undulating, twirling "home," the macrocosm in which humanity inheres as one small, if tragically beautiful, strand. The art of "re-homing" is one I treasure. As a change management specialist and realtor, I help people so that we humans can feel more at peace, more grounded, safe, inspired, connected, and held in this vast web of life we call our planetary home. I'm also hyper-aware that the art of re-homing needs to apply to our efforts on behalf of all our relations, the whole cosmos. And we are only just beginning to understand how we must act.
In the eco-encyclical, Laudato Si (Praise Be), "On Care for Our Common Home," (2015) Pope Francis called for a global moral imperative to care for creation: "Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage... This is the basis of our conviction that, as part of the universe, called into being by one Father, all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect. ...God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement. ...We fail to see that some are mired in desperate and degrading poverty, with no way out, while others have not the faintest idea of what to do with their possessions, vainly showing off their supposed superiority and leaving behind them so much waste which, if it were the case everywhere, would destroy the planet." (LS 89-92)
Today, I was greeted by this tiny displaced spring cankerworm (inchworm), clinging to my hand with such extraordinary tenacity and strength as to extend its entire body vertically away from my finger in search of "home," fresh greenery, soil, sunlight, and moisture. "Hi, Sweet Baby!"
It took me a moment to snap a photo, but when I placed my friend gently in the flower bed on the dried leaf, it was only a moment until - miracle of miracles - adaptation and exploration occurred. Refugee no more. Suddenly, "home." All thoughts of what that beautiful moth-baby will devour on the way to adulthood vanished, along with para-military language about "invasives" and how to eradicate cankerworms to protect foliage. "Fiat." Let it be.
What can we learn on the Earth Day about re-homing for ALL our relations, especially our wild-kin who are saving us from ourselves, renewing the Earth despite our best efforts to destroy it for them and us as well?
Eminent American biologist, and the father of socio-biology, the brilliant E.O. Wilson (1929-2021), proposed the "Half-Earth" way of thinking and practice: "In order to safeguard a sufficient number of species to protect global biodiversity, including humanity, the late American biologist, E.O. Wilson and a new generation of scientists, ecologists, and conservationists concluded that we must set aside roughly half of Earth’s land and seas for nature, known as the principle of “Half-Earth.” (https://eowilsonfoundation.org/what-is-the-half-earth-project/) Yes, half. Allowing our wild-kin to recover by relinquishing HALF the planet for rejuvenation is what was proposed.
To some, yielding half of the biosphere - free from human interference and abuse - is unthinkable. If it seems untenable on a global scale, the idea is already being promoted and modeled in practice by scientists, educators, conservationists, and policy makers all around the world: https://eowilsonfoundation.org/programs/ Time and additional research will tell whether leaving half the Earth to its own way of healing and renewal for the good of the whole - including humans - could have a positive, lasting impact. So far, total human control and domination hasn't been working out well.
Say that we're in favor of at least yielding substantial Earth wilderness to the rest of her denizens for self-healing and rejuvenation. Perhaps there is merit in just letting the wild places be wild, letting it be. What can we do on a microcosmic scale?
If we have a home, a yard, a garden, a pond or stream, a wildflower patch, or
a natural Soulscape, that's a great place to start. Leave part of the yard alone. Nature wants to be wild, diverse, and complex, free from toxins that pollute soil, water, and air. In this way, nature's eco-systemic health recovers its vibrancy and resilience, and is well suited to adaptation and growth. Inter-species collaboration works harmoniously in wild places. Everyone thrives together.
Educate. If we have a garden bed, take the kids out there with a magnifier. Get dirty. Teach stillness and get out the binoculars to learn the native avian-kin, their preferences, habits, and songs. Get the colored pencils out and sketch the flora and fauna with the kids. Let them taste fresh fruits and veggies from the garden. Teach them to pray and play with the stillness, the vibrancy, the song of creation. Model care for creation by being immersed in nature.
And be an active listener. Listen deeply inside whenever you are outside. Learn from our plant- and creature-kin. Learn their wild languages. Give them space, room to roam. Make sure they have habitat, food, and water. Note how very like them we are, our commonalities, our beauty, our fragility. When we love creation, we protect, nurture, and love every being in its web.
Maybe we can let creation be - so nature herself can "re-home." And then we will celebrate Earth's Day with ALL our relations!
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