The Confederacy of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations in what is now upstate New York has been meeting for 1,000 years. United by a common goal to live in harmony, each meeting, large and small, is opened with the beautiful and incantatory Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. This enfolds each gathering in a culture of […]
The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address Read More »
There is a wonderful project afoot in the United States. Called Homegrown National Park, it’s the brainchild of Doug Tallamy. An entomologist at the University of Delaware, Tallamy is keenly aware of the threats to biodiversity that the decimation of our insect population poses. Through books and talks, he has been an important voice advocating
From lawn to alive: creating a Homegrown National Park Read More »
The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.~Earth Charter~ Looking around at the scorched wreckage of today’s polity, one wonders how the Earth Charter even came into
Ever inspiring, the Earth Charter celebrates 25 years Read More »
May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.~ Pope Francis ~ Pope Francis died just short of the tenth anniversary of his powerful encyclical setting forth Catholic doctrine on the care of Earth. Laudato si — Praise be! — open each of the verses in the
Laudato si: celebrating a 10-year epic Read More »
This was a year measured, in part, by the interconnections of flowing water. At the beginning, in Reweaving a River, I described a trip to an area of the Klamath River in northern California that was due to have four dams removed. One of the connections is my own: two of the dams were built
Songlines 2024: interconnections Read More »
I turn once again to the millions of people who are sowing clover all over the world. The subtitle of Paul Hawken’s book Blessed Unrest is “How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming.”
Blessed unrest: sowing seeds into the whirlwind Read More »
“The forest is the root of all life; it is the womb that revives our biological instincts, that deepens our intelligence and increases our sensitivity as human beings.” ~ Akira Miyawaki ~ Much of Earth’s land area would like to be forest. Not in the aridity of deserts or grasslands or the sogginess of wetlands.
Tiny forests, big miracles Read More »
Fierce and blunt, caring and empathic, Laudate Deum is a cry from the heart of a man who cares deeply about Earth and all her manifestations.
Laudate Deum: a cry of the heart Read More »
What we do with our land, however small an area, matters not just to us, but to the life of our planet. Landscaping isn’t a static, visual element but an active participant in the world we create. It can foster healthy soil and air or drench it with chemicals. Clean water as it filters through healthy soil or send it laden with toxic compounds to underground aquifers or nearby waters.
Most importantly, it can help save birds, butterflies, and other living beings from extinction.
Gardening as if life depends on it Read More »
In 2007 the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed the word acorn from its print edition. Also the words blackberry, otter, willow, bluebell, and newt. Fifty such ‘nature words’ were eliminated and replaced by words like broadband, MP3 player, and chatroom.