Stewardship

It's a theme I've connected to frequently...the earth, her energy and our relationship to her. This past week was Earth Day, and although I believe every day should be Earth Day, it's a time when the global spotlight shines brightly with our awareness (or lack thereof) to the planet. In the past, I have spoken about the earth being the element of our base (muladhara) chakra and how it represents our feelings of being safe, connected to others, and grounded. Last week in finding the anchors in our life (click here if you missed it), we did a visualization of sending down taproots of energy, securing ourselves to the planet so that change could awaken and we could rise into higher states of consciousness.

This week, however, I decided to look at Earth Day from a different perspective-that of Earth Stewardship. In researching this idea, I came across a statement that viewed stewardship as having three branches - Doers, Donors, and Practitioners. The Doers are those people who show up when there's an oil spill or environmental tragedy. They are the neighbors who head out to the local open spaces with a long-grabbing stick and trash bags for collecting debris that's gathered in washes, along riverbanks, or snagged in trees.

The Donors are those folks who financially lend support to organizations that work from an environmental aspect. And, finally, the Practitioners are those enacting bodies that make things happen, such as legislating change at the local government level. A prime example was announced this past week on Earth Day by the City of Los Angeles instituting a ban on plastic straws for any restaurant with 26 or more employees (they have two-years to make the switch).

As I read about these types of earth stewards, I found myself wondering which one of those best described me. I do my best to do my part - using reusable drinking containers, carrying my kit of bamboo cutlery (which includes a straw), stashing small collapsible bags to use for as many purchases as I can, driving a hybrid vehicle, and having a solar-powered home for electricity. Yet, I can't help but think that I'm still part of environmental degradation. I love to travel and jet-plane fuel is a huge contributor to greenhouse gases. I still shop at places that have things in plastic, including my often eaten lunch salad. I know that although I compost and recycle and have relatively little garbage going into the landfill bucket, China isn't buying as much in the way of recycling products so who knows if that intention is even paying off?

The next steps and intentions for me are to simply consume less where I can. That single use containers become the exception rather than the rule. That I continue to give voice through the platform of my yoga teaching to raise awareness. That I vote for people in the "practitioner" roles to enact systemic change. I contribute to the issues, therefore, I must become active in addressing them. And I believe it is up to me and people like me to give our voices as we are in a position of privilege and abundance. I have a beautiful home where I'm safe, I don't have to think about where my next meal is coming from or if my water is safe for drinking. I can move through society with ease and if I think about how many people around the globe don't have those things, whose basic needs are not being met, then all the more reason that this is my time for stewarding Mother Earth. As I have written in previous blogs related to this, if a migrant who's been traversing difficult terrain is handed a plastic bottle of water, or a bag of water with a straw in it, you can be sure they won't refuse it because it's not environmentally friendly.

But I can and so can you. 

Are you willing to take the next steps necessary in your own life to honor Mother Earth and Father Sky? 

I recently watched a short film which interviewed astronauts from all over the world-Russian, American, English, German, French, Indian, and Arabic. It didn't matter where they came from, their religious affiliations, gender, or beliefs as they all expressed the same idea. From outer space, you get a sense of how fragile planet earth is. She's sitting in the blackness of infinite space and time, with what seems to be the smallest of barriers-the earth's atmosphere, which allows us to inhabit the planet. Without that delicate barrier, we would not exist nor would any of the living creatures, plants, or humans on this earth. 

Fragile. The time is now.