By Dr. Jean Larson
We all know April 22, 2023 is Earth Day. While it is one day out of the year we collectively acknowledge the Earth; as individuals, it is a reminder to live each day in honor of the Earth. One ritual I have been practicing for over three decades is to write a letter of (re)commitment to living my life in service to the planet. Here is my (re)commitment letter of 2023:
Dear Earth – thank you for being my first mother with all the sustenance needed each day to survive. Without you, my life – literally – is nothing. I am sorry for all we (as a collective) have done to hurt you. I do not think we understood the finite degree of your resources nor the magnitude of your reaction living beyond our needs. We know more now and are learning better ways to act that will be more kind to you. I want to do right by my choices in repairing the Earth and make you healthy again. Thank you for the beauty of the Earth and for reminding me of your presence each day. My gift back is to recommit my awareness of you in every moment and a promise to live for you in every way I can.
I invite you to write a letter to this amazing blue-green marble we call Earth, too. How will you commit yourself to the Earth? Will you take account and acknowledge all the services the Earth ecosystems provide for our survival? Will you commit yourself each day to connecting with nature? Or recognize how our lives depend on the air, sun, water, soil? Or perhaps you will be more grateful for all the Earth has given to us and consider how it is time for giving back? Whatever you decide to write – take time to think about how you can commit yourself to giving care to the Earth with authenticity, respect and intention.
NOTE: In January of 2022, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, died. To honor him, Emergence Magazine published his meditations "Ten Love Letters to the Earth" as an invitation to “to engage in intimate conversation, a living dialogue, with our Earth.” I encourage you to read them as inspiration.
Dr. Jean Larson is the manager of Nature-Based Therapeutics and Nature Heals Initiative at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and is faculty lead of the Nature-Based Therapeutic Studies at the Earl Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing of the University of Minnesota.
Photo courtesy of Jason Boudreau-Landis.