April 22, 2024
Charlie’s First Earth Day
By Ken Giglio, Principal of Mindful Leadership
Dear Charlie,
It’s a big week for celebrating nature with Earth Day today and Arbor Day on Friday.
Each year in spring we are reminded we live in the Earth, not on the Earth, and with the trees and animals versus seeing them as nature’s attractions. We are all nature, and my hope is we come to our senses soon and take care of the Earth and ourselves in the process. I find lately my hope is chased by my fear it’s too late to change our destructive ways of living with the Earth.
Yet, I am hopeful and even idealistic by nature, and I want you to know how much we are counting on you. We need leaders, Charlie, to help us through the mess in which we find ourselves. Not the self-centered ones who want to be boss and have control over money and things, but the centered ones who follow their values and inspire and energize others.
And, I believe you can be one of these leaders, because the Earth, our planet home, needs you. I realize this is a lot to ask of any person, let alone a grandson of nine months. However, I believe with every ounce of my biased heart you will be a pivotal figure in the future health of the Earth.
Your role, I trust, will emerge like spring and in communion with the Earth. Of course, your mom and dad will have their opinions about what you do with your life. But, whatever you do, and I have no doubt you’ll do everything with focus and gusto given your present kinetic energy level, please do it with respect and appreciation for the Earth.
There is so much noise out there about the environment right now. It’s hard to know who to listen to and what to do. At one extreme are the doomsayers shouting the end is near, and all we can do is adapt to the warming air and water with the misery it is already bringing to coral reefs, polar bears, and people.
At the other end of the spectrum are the hope-filled people noting the positive changes and momentum in slowing the plant’s warming. They are excited by the possibilities of technology, and particularly AI, to relieve the Earth’s suffering and reinforce its inherent resilience. I think both groups are onto something because they are trying to understand our current situation and do something to create a sustainable future environment in which we can thrive.
You’ll notice I’m not considering the so-called climate deniers, those who view our current mess as cyclical, with no course change needed. These folks see our environmental condition as being only a teapot tempest of delusional tree huggers. Well, you need to know your grandfather is a devoted tree hugger!
I can’t imagine the messages you’ll be hearing about the health of the Earth when you begin school in just a few short years. Perhaps some balanced perspectives will emerge that blend urgency and action with deep appreciation and abiding respect for Earth’s plants and animals. We can look to the example of Indigenous peoples around the world to better understand how to revere and be with the Earth versus treating our home as a bottomless resource for the taking. We can also look at the origins of Earth Day in 1970, which was inspired, as crazy as it may seem now, by a politician and carried forward by students.
Your mom and dad will decide when to read this letter to you and others I’ve written, or I’ll share them with you myself, nature willing. You can mostly skip what’s above as it’s simply my reflections. What’s most important as you continue to grow and throughout your life is to get outside and experience nature and the Earth every day through all your senses and with all your being.
I would see as many sunrises and sunsets as you can from a backyard, field, or beach. In fact, be there early before the risings and settings to experience the full effects of how light and dark are separate, how they merge, and then finally (and suddenly) become the day or the night. And, simply look up when you can to see the sky, which is an extension of the Earth. Our atmosphere is the Earth breathing above our heads.
Listen for birdsong; it is almost always present if you tune in. Dawn and dusk are the best times, with dawn having the edge, because the chattering of people is absent. You’ll hear the cardinals and robins competing for their first song in the darkness before any noticeable light.
Remember all nature’s sounds have meaning. None of it is noise, unlike the words coming from some people. Birds, plants, trees, and animals are there waiting to be noticed and heard. Welcome them and appreciate them not for what they are doing but for just being there.
Feel the Earth with your fingers and toes. Touch trees with your hands; some are smooth and others rough and feel their strength by hugging them like your grandfather. Smell the soil, but don’t eat it, like you did when you were very young. I still remember your mother glaring at me when I told her eating a little dirt wouldn’t kill you and it was, in fact, organic. She doesn’t find me as funny as you do, but I assure you she did when she was a kid.
You are very fortunate to be surrounded by a family who loves and cares for the Earth. Your parents are deeply compassionate when it comes to all living things, even bugs, and keenly aware of what’s at stake when it comes to the health of the environment.
When you were in your early months, we called you a baby night owl, a fitting connection with nature for a wide-eyed and curious boy. It was your mother who playfully gave you that name. How she kept her good humor and kindness through her sleeplessness and exhaustion still astounds me.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Charlie, I can’t wait to be outside with you in the grass, the woods, and at the beach! The days are getting longer now, and you’ll probably be walking within weeks. There is so much we can do together in nature! All the trees and flowers, and insects, birds and animals are waiting for us!