Do you think the earth loves you back?
An interesting question indeed. I am reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and I one of her essays she mentions that she asked her students exactly that question. Her students were dumbfounded. But when she made it more hypothetical it became easier for her students to address the question. "What do you suppose would happen if people believe this crazy notion that the earth loved them back?" It seemed a discussion broke out, and one student proclaimed that you could never harm something that loved you!
So here we are. Am I or is Robin anthropomorphising? I really do not know. I think there is an important point to be made here. Why would we want to screw up our environment and treat our earth, the only one we have, like crap and expect it to love us and treat us nicely? But that is what we are doing. No wonder it is throwing global warming at us and natural disasters like a record hurricane season. Hopefully, you don't do this at home with your loved ones, or with your friends. So why gamble and abuse that piece of real estate you, your children, and your grand children depend on? It will definitely keep returning the favor! Well, if I was the earth, I am not sure if I could love my human inhabitants, unless I am the benevolent earth.
In the past I have written a lot about what some of the religious thoughts about men's dominion over the natural world. How early on many religious folks and philosophers considered that a supreme being created the earth. They were convinced that everything on the earth was for us humans, who were created in his image, to exploit and use, and that we would be provided for. I mentioned characters like Malthus who rang the alarm bell and told us that eventually this may come back to bite us in the but because we would exceed the earth's carrying capacity for humans.
I also wrote about my fear over Trump's view and what he would do. I knew he hated nature and the natural environment. Golf courses for him baby, highly modified and treated with fertilizers and pesticides; not exactly loving nature. Moreover, I am sure his hands never touched dirt except to pick up a golf ball. Well despite his loss in the recent election, he is still at it trying to wreck havoc to the environment and the earth, inflicting damage that will be difficult to undo.
Concluding, I (still) strongly believe that we were put on the earth to take care of nature and of mother earth so it would take care of us, not to exploit and abuse it. If we do that, I am sure it will return the favor!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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| The woods behind our home. I am so happy I live here, that they are under conservation easement, and that I can enjoy them every day. We need more green space in our collective life, to protect our air, our water, our sanity and our soul. |
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