How do you experience your connection to the planet?
For me, my sense of intimacy with other life comes from my senses – feeling the sun on my skin, smelling the magnolias blooming in the air, watching day by day and week by week as buds sprout, unfurl, and flower to invite bees and ants inside.
Along with other members of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, I have been working to imagine Earth Day in ten years. It’s hard to feel certain about anything ten years from now, and as used to dire warnings and terrible news as I am, I guard against making predictions of the future. But visions can also ground us, and when I calm my fears a bit, I imagine that a late April day in 2031 will probably be filled with some of the same familiar joys – the sun on my skin, floral fragrance, birds chirping.
Of course, much depends on how we act now, because we are intimately connected with all the living systems of our planet. While that used to frighten me, I now see the flip side – we have so much opportunity, especially when we recognize the resilience of life, its innate longing to thrive, and its remarkable ability to do so when given a chance.
By sharing a single story, you can dramatically change someone’s understanding of the climate, our planet’s current ecological state, and possibilities for the future. By growing the movement for ecosystem restoration, we can regenerate more than soil or wetlands – we can regenerate hope, and regenerate ourselves.
That’s our goal!
So this spring, we’ve launched our Planet Partners Campaign, doubling down on building the future in which we, our children and grandchildren, and our fellow members of the web of life can thrive. You’re invited to join and participate in whatever way you can! Let’s keep our eyes set firmly forward.