Smothered or Sustained?
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families,
their histories, too. Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems.
-Joy Harjo-
Gratitude is most powerful as a response to the Earth because it provides an opening to
reciprocity, to the act of giving back, to living in a way that the Earth will be grateful for us.
-Robin Wall Kimmerer-
I share these quotes in honor of Earth Day, officially April 22 each year. Unofficially, every other day of the year as well.
On Sunday and yesterday, I had the opportunity to walk and pick up garbage, first in our neighborhood and then in the neighborhood of the school where I work. As I picked up pieces of garbage, some pretty small, others larger and weightier, these two words came to mind: smothered or sustained?
Small buds on plants and tiny insects smothered by plastic or other debris. If we are careless and care less what happens to these smallest of living things, we are also caring less about our own lives and the health of our planet. Look and listen and see the alive poems Joy Harjo talks about. If these seemingly insignificant forms of life are destroyed, humans eventually follow. Perhaps my efforts sustained the lives of a few of them.
Our planet is being smothered by garbage, pollution, intense heat, floodwaters, destructive fires, wasteful consumerism, greed. The Earth is not breathing as freely as she used to. She can be sustained by our care, stewardship, conserving, using less packaging and plastic, composting, turning toward more renewable energy sources., and so many other kind acts. She can be saved by our love and concern. Living in a way that our planet will be grateful for us, in the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer.
We can each ask ourselves, am I giving back to the Earth more than I am taking from it? It starts with grateful attention.
As I walked and gathered up empty plastic beverage bottles, take out containers, candy wrappers, and more, I also came across remnants of the addictions that almost smothered me–a mini booze bottle and a vape dispenser. Alcohol and nicotine were once destructive forces in my life, physically mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
I am sustained by daily recovery now. Our planet needs the same sustenance.
