On this Earth Day, we find ourselves reflecting upon our relationship with nature, as we do many days. We yearn for connection, for healing, and for a path forward.
Today, we are sharing a few resources that have inspired us in our own personal journeys. We are sharing something to read, something to do with your children, something to listen to, and something to support.
Something to Read: Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.
Braiding Sweetgrass is written as an appreciation of nature’s wisdom and as a call to reconnect our hearts, our souls, and our minds to nature’s healthy rhythms. Robin Wall Kimmerer asks the question: “How, in our modern world, can we find our way to understand the earth as a gift again, to make our relations with the world sacred again?”
In moving prose, she “invites us to hold a minidewak, a giveaway for Mother Earth, to spread our blanket and pile it high with gifts of our own making, in return for all we’ve been given, in compensation for all we’ve taken.” We must heed this call to move away from an attitude of entitlement, and instead towards gratitude -- knowing that the generosity of the Earth is not to be taken for granted.
Something to Do: Go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt!
Our amazingly talented friend Lana of Lana’s Shop (outdoor-loving-mama of two and illustrator of all things in our natural world) painted a beautiful nature scavenger hunt to inspire wonder, curiosity, and appreciation for the great outdoors in your little ones. Something as simple as a neighborhood walk and noticing a ladybug, an acorn, or butterfly can nurture that connection to nature- learning to recognize its many gifts every single day!
You can download the free Nature Scavenger Hunt shown above by entering your email below to join our email community! The pdf link will pop up here immediately after you submit.
Something to Listen to: “Fast Fashion’s Dirty Little Secret (Hint: It’s Oil),” on Spotify’s How to Save a Planet podcast, hosted by Alex Blumberg and Kendra Pierre-Louis.
Blumberg and Pierre-Louis explore the ecologically and socially destructive phenomenon of fast fashion. Our clothes were once prized possessions, passed down from generation to generation, carefully mended and repaired, and eventually reused as rags when they became too threadbare to wear.
However, three forces — industrialization, globalization, and a supply of cheap oil-based synthetic fibers — have conspired to produce an entirely new phenomenon in the history of apparel: limited use, disposable, fast clothing. What can we do? Buy less, buy better, and choose natural fibers.
Something to Support: Ceres, a nonprofit organization committed to transforming the economy to build a just and sustainable future for people and the planet.
There are many wonderful ways to invest in our shared Earth, and this year we will be supporting Ceres in honor of The Ryan Martel Fellowship for environmental justice advocacy.
Ryan is a beloved friend of ours who passed away earlier this year from cancer. During his life, he modeled the type of heroic climate action that each of us should emulate: he tirelessly worked as an environmental justice advocate and policy influencer for Ceres. We are grateful for his friendship, for his vision of a more beautiful world, and for the inspiration he gives us to help carry on his work.
May we care for our planet, today and every day -- for our future, for our families, and with gratitude.