Happy Earth Day!

Every day is Earth Day of course, but it is good to take a moment to celebrate our beautiful home and to recognize that we owe our lives to her. She is truly our mother.

Here’s a bit from Ideas to Postpone the End of the World by Ailton Krenak. Krenak is an indigenous activist and leader in Brazil. The Krenak people were victims of several massacres by the colonial Portuguese and are the last remaining Botocudo do Leste. They live in a very small area by the Doce River, which they were able to recover after much resistance and legal work.

The earth has had countless other configurations, many of them without us on it, so why is it that we cling so stubbornly to this idea of earth as humanity’s backyard? The Anthropocene plays such a dominant role in shaping our existence, our collective experience, and our idea of what humanity means. Our adherence to a fixed idea that the globe has always been this way and humanity has always related to it the way it does now is the deepest mark the Anthropocene has left.

I would add that it isn’t always our belief that this is how it’s always been, but also our belief that this is how it should be and that we are the pinnacle of evolution. The Earth has existed for over 4.5 billion years and has seen other apex beings come and go. Our human ancestors appeared only 5 – 7 million years ago. How presumptuous of us to assume we are the goal of evolution. And how short-sighted of us, given our destruction of the Earth, to assume humans will not go extinct. Because it seems to me that right now, we are working really hard to make sure that happens.

So let’s celebrate our beautiful home, but also, let’s do some spring cleaning and make sure we continue to have a home to celebrate.

A Note on Blog Subscriptions

I’ve had several people remark recently they are unable to receive updates when new posts are up. On the right sidebar there is an email subscription option. I have discovered that since I used a WordPress form, in order to subscribe to email notices, you need to have a WordPress account. Accounts are free and you don’t need a blog, however, I 100% understand not wanting to create an account if you don’t have one already. I am going to do some investigating to see if I can find some other subscription service I can use that won’t require any special account for subscribers. In the meantime, if you have a Twitter account, I send new post announcements to my feed there. My Twitter name is @SHollmichel, or you can click on the Follow button over on the sidebar.