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Essay on Save Mother Earth

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Save Mother Earth is the popular slogan that creates awareness about saving the Earth from destruction. We all know that Earth is the only planet that has life on it.

As of now, it is clear that this planet has been a gift for us humans and other living things that have all the facilities we need, naturally. From air to water to food, everything is provided to us by Earth and thus we call it Mother Earth. Had it not been the beautiful environment and the availability of resources on the earth we could not have existed.

But, what have we done to our mother earth? We have exploited earth for our own interests and today the planet we call our mother, faces the threat of extinction of life on its soil just because of our ill practices. The pollution levels are an all-time high, the resources are fast depleting. We must have adequate measures in place to save our mother earth.

Audience: The below given essays are exclusively written for school students (Class 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 Standard).

Introduction:

The predicament of the present situation calls us to save Mother Earth. From the earliest hunting age to the current technological age, man has had a definite impact on the environment. He had been exploiting natural resources to achieve economic growth. Without plans to replenish them, it has caused serious damage to Earth.

How to Save Mother Earth:

Personal Level:

The responsibility to save Mother Earth starts from personal level. In our daily activities, though we could afford, we should restrain ourselves from using energy excessively. Simple decisions to reduce the use of water, electricity, transportation etc., could mean a lot in this direction. By being a model to others in our activities, we can bring about the required social change.

Corporate Level:

Governments across countries and stakeholders are creating the awareness to save Mother Earth. Afforestation, rain water harvesting, recycling waste, cutting industrial pollution etc., are some efforts of the various Governments. Observing International Earth Day and Earth Hour every year generates sensitivity to the issue. The Paris Agreement of 2015 is the latest corporate step to keep the damages to the earth in check.

Conclusion :

A Mother is the source of life. Causing a mother to suffer cuts the life supply due to the child. So, to save Mother Earth is to save us children, in turn. With our combined efforts, it is possible to restore her former resources and glory. In the process, we would also contribute to the welfare of the future generations.

The present state of the earth has become extremely challenging to the healthy and continual existence of this earth and life, as we know it is due to the air pollution, toxic environment, global warming, water pollution, deforestation and a host of other environmental problems. There are many ways we can use to save the earth.

Saving our planet largely depends on the good habit and dedication of all of us doing our part and contributing our best to saving the earth. The development and use of technologies that is environmental friendly so that we would not harm the mother earth. We should try to embrace the reduction in usage of things that are harmful to the environment, employ the re-usage and also the recycle of goods and things so that a lesser amount of wastes can be generated.

A lot of people employ the use of a mix of house cleansers to keep the house disinfected and clean. Neglecting the fact that a lot of the chemicals used in most of these house cleansers are extremely dangerous to soil, water and air.

We should find out and discover the constituents of all the products we use in our daily activities and try as much as possible to use only products that are eco-friendly. Commercial industries are leading contributors to global warming and various forms of pollution like air pollution, soil pollution, water pollution and others. Government made laws, regulations and rules should be put in place to help battle pollution and also global warming.

Save Mother Earth is the popular slogan that creates awareness about saving the Earth from destruction. We all know that Earth is the only planet that has life on it. As of now, it is clear that this planet has been a gift for us humans and other living things that have all the facilities we need, naturally. From air to water to food, everything is provided to us by Earth and thus we call it Mother Earth.

We are exploiting our so-called Mother Earth for many years by using its resources vulgarly and without giving back anything for its further growth. For example, to live we are exploiting many lands by cutting down trees to build home, industry and more. But we don’t bother about the destroyed trees or plants and we don’t bother about planting them again. We pollute the atmosphere through vehicles and industries, then we live our future being diseased. It high time that we realize the need to save mother Earth.

To deal with the above problems and to save Mother Earth, we need to adopt various measures of conservation. Ways to save Mother Earth includes planting more and more trees, using renewable sources of energy, reducing the wastage of water, saving electricity, reducing the use of plastic, conservation of non-renewable resources, conserving the different flora and faunas, taking steps to reduce pollution, etc.

Creating awareness among the public through different programs, dramas, etc., can also be helpful to save Mother Earth.

To save our Mother earth, it is important to move on to a more sustainable way of living. Sustainable means we should keep the resources and use them wisely keeping in mind that our future generations should also be getting a part of it. This type of thought will help us to use nature, care for it more and ultimately save Mother Earth.

Our beautiful planet Earth is 4.543 billion years old. Arguably, it is the only planet which has thriving life. Scientists around the world claim that the Earth has moulded itself, such that different living species can thrive on it and hence aptly it is called as the Mother Earth.

Grave Issues:

Every year 22 nd April is celebrated as the ‘Earth Day’ to create awareness on environmental issues. But it is indeed a matter of serious concern that our planet is facing large scale issues for its survival. The cradle of life on Earth is Oxygen and it is provided by the lush green trees. The biggest menace in recent times is the rapid deforestation that has resulted in colossal climate change. Horrendous calamities like Tsunami, typhoons, volcano eruption, drought, sudden downpour of heavy rainfall and many more are witnessing around the year.

The resilient shield of our planet that protects us from harmful UV rays coming from the Sun is the Ozone Layer in the Stratosphere of our atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses released from the Earth are damaging the Ozone layer by creating Black Holes. So many beautiful species of Animals and Birds like the Indian Cheetah and the Pink headed Duck are extinct due to heavy hunting and human intrusion in wildlife. The National Animal of India, the Bengal Tiger is on the brink of extinction.

Measures to be taken:

Stringent measures must be adopted to save our planet from the havoc created by climate change. In India mostly all of the Forests are under government jurisdiction of the Central and State Forest Departments. The Indian Government has enforced various projects for forest conservation and projects like the SAVE TIGER PROJECT for Conservation of wild animals. The Green India Mission, (nodal agency MoEFCC), is launched under the National Action Plan for Climate Change NAPCC to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The Swatch Bharat Abhiyan embarked on October 2, 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi has been the biggest cleanliness drive ever undertaken in India. To save the environment Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi gave the edifying mantra ‘Pehle Shauchalaya, Phir Devalaya’ (first toilets, then temples) to encourage hygienic practices. Various NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) in India are actively working to educate common people on environment preservation.

Conclusion:

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and one another”. All Indians must pledge to contribute in every way possible by adopting environmentally friendly lifestyle to conserve the environment and save Mother Earth.

Which planet do you consider as the most beautiful planet in our solar system? For most of us, the answer to this question would be our own planet Earth. Such is the beauty of the Earth that is has allowed so much life to originate and sustain on its soil. For India, especially Earth is regarded not just as a planet alone, but it is treated as our mother. But do we really care about our mother as we should really do? Are we not responsible for the deteriorating resources and condition of our mother Earth?

Why should we save our mother earth?

Our planet is vital for our survival. Had it not been for the abundant resources available on Earth along with the adequate atmosphere containing gases, especially oxygen and carbon-dioxide, we would not have been able to flourish on this planet. Therefore, should we not be instrumental in saving our mother Earth when it is fighting for its existence and that due to our own misdeeds?

What led to the damage on the earth?

In the older times, individuals were not associated with damaging works, so there was no dread of contamination and other ecological issues. After the steady growth in the population, individuals began creating urban communities and ventures for the advanced way of life and simple life for everybody. For industrialization, man got the hang of abusing the common assets past the limit.

Individuals got engaged with deforestation which brought about the elimination of different wild creatures, contamination, and a dangerous global warming. Because of the unnatural weather change, the defensive ozone layer got a gap, ascend in ocean level, liquefying of ice tops of Antarctica and Greenland, and so on negative changes happened.

Measures to Save the Earth:

There are different simple ways which can be useful in saving our mother earth. We should spare woods through afforestation and reforestation. Plants are the most essential need of life whether people, creatures or other living things. They give us sustenance, oxygen, protection, fuel, medications, security, and furniture. They are exceptionally important to keep up the regular harmony between condition, atmosphere, climate, and environment. We should also deal with the natural life by halting deforestation and advancing reforestation.

A great number of animal groups and feathered creatures have been wiped out as a result of the annihilation of their environment. They are extremely important to adjust the evolved way of life in nature and save our mother Earth. The favourable conditions available on our mother Earth for our survival have been reduced continuously because of deforestation, industrialization, urbanization, and contamination.

It is affecting the lives through a worldwide temperature alteration and atmosphere changes in light of the release of carbon dioxide and other ozone-harming substances in the atmosphere. There is an urgent requirement to change urban communities into Eco-urban communities to keep up the environmental equalization in the air. The respective governments of the bigger and wealthier nations need to cooperate as well to bring worldwide changes. Then only we can have a better Earth and a better tomorrow for our next generations.

The earth is home for all of us and it is our responsibility to ensure that it is sustained and minded. Earth has been termed “mother nature” or “mother earth” basically because of its productive, nurturing and life-giving nature, which is complimentary to the roles of a mother. The earth is kind to humans but humans are ungrateful and they return unkindness to it by destroying it.

Destruction of nature was first observed in early 19 th century and it has been progressive and extensive such that campaigns like “save mother earth” have been initiated. The destruction in nature began with the industrialization and modernization, whose processes caused a change in the physical and biological nature of the earth and the ecosystem. Through modernization, natural habitats have been destroyed in attempts to come up with modern structures. Pollution is generally due to human activity. Since humans cause the destruction of Mother Earth, they should be equally responsible for saving Mother Earth.

The Importance of Saving Mother Earth:

In as much as the destruction of earth affects the animate and the inanimate objects on the surface of the earth and it is important that nature is restored. The earth is all we have, without it, life would not be imaginable. The beauty of nature is what we live for as humans. Imagine the sunrise you smile at in the morning gone or the oceans waves that give you peace all gone? It would be very ugly out there and nothing to admire as nature is gone. In the campaign to save mother earth, the ultimate goal is to sustain the remaining nature and restore those that are destructed.

Human life is dependent on breathing fresh and clean air. The air pollution that is currently trending shows how much contamination is in the air we breathe. Planting of trees is a way of restoring clean air because more oxygen will be released to the atmosphere by trees as they take in carbon dioxide. It is important to save the earth because of the provisions that help sustain animal and human life especially food and water. Water pollution is a worrying situation because water is an essential life sustaining provision of mother earth.

Ways of Saving Mother Earth:

Efforts made to save mother earth are focused on restoration of nature and mitigation of destruction of nature. In preventing further destruction through pollution of the environment, policies like recycling of all things that can be recycled have been implemented globally. Things like plastic bags and bottles are not biodegradable and therefore disposal is discouraged that is why emphasis on recycling has been made. Conservation of environmental resources through conservative measures. The conservative measures include sparingly using energy and water.

The other way of saving mother earth is through education so that people are aware of the importance of nature, which will motivate them to contribute in the process. It is important to participate in the cleaning actions whereby we do not throw away trash and pick up any trash we find laying around inappropriately. Planting trees is a very effective way of saving the earth because through trees, oxygen is replenished, rain formation is enabled and soil is protected from erosion. Wildlife protection is also a way of preserving nature because wildlife forms a part of the beautiful nature and their existence is important.

The environment occupies majority of the earth and its destruction has been massive over the years. Environmental pollution affects the ecosystem and causes adverse effects to animate and inanimate objects on earth. Environment can be saved by controlling and preventing pollution. The cleaning act can also be implemented so as to get rid of pollutants that are already in the environment.

Undoing the damage of pollution of the environment is a tasking responsibility that is mandatory for the general wellbeing of the earth inhabitants. Through the process of restoring nature, challenges are faced especially in those natural aspects that are somehow impossible to restore e.g., the ozone layer. The ozone layer is destroyed yet restoration does not seem to be made a reality.

In conclusion, the journey to save mother earth is still at its early stages but through the strategies that have been put in place, it is possible to restore Mother Earth and protect it. In the quest to save the earth, further destruction should be prevented so that the efforts made have an impact. The earth basically has everything that sustains our existence and that is why it is important to save it from extinction.

Our earth is our mother. It infuses life within and nourishes us to grow. And in return, asks for nothing but love and care. For the past few decades, harmful human activities have damaged our planet Earth in many ways. The useful natural resources are diminishing at a rapid rate and the living conditions are becoming worse.

More than 3/4th of the earth is covered with water and the rest is land made of various geographical features, such as mountains, valleys, plateaus, etc. There are two types of resources used by human beings.

The renewable resources include the sunlight, wind, soil etc., which are available abundantly. Whereas the non-renewable resources include oil, gas, fossil fuel, coal, forests, metals, and minerals, etc., the supply of which is quite limited.

Human Activities Resulting in Damage to Mother Earth:

1. Man-Made Disasters:

To satisfy our reckless needs and self-interests, we have exhausted most of the non-renewable resources of the earth. As a result, not only we have depleted all these precious energy sources but also degraded the quality of life for other living beings as well. For instance, compensating the fuel needs for the growing population and a countless number of vehicles, many oil wells have been exhausted.

2. Earthquakes and Air Pollution:

The maddening demand for fossil fuels such as coal and ores has led to consistent digging and mining of the land. This is one of the major reasons behind the frequent catastrophic earthquakes. On top of that, the fumes and gases produced by the combustion of these fuels have increased the pollution level in the air and caused global warming at a serious level.

3. Deforestation:

Likewise, the expanding wants of land for inhabitation purposes, for setting up factories, and buildings have resulted in enormous deforestation. More and more trees are being cut to clear the land and build homes. Its negative effects are plenty. Deforestation is leading to loosening of the soil which means higher chances of flood.

4. Extinction of Flora and Fauna Species:

Wild animals have no places to live. As a result, their chances of being hunted or killed also rise. This is the reason, many animal species are becoming extinct. Smaller species like honey bees, butterflies, and birds play an essential role in the survival of human beings. In the absence of vegetation, the number of sparrows and honey bees is falling rapidly.

5. Scarcity of Water:

Diminishing forest areas are responsible for inferior air and disturbed water cycle. Lack of rain creates drought and farmers face a big challenge when it comes to irrigating the crops. This again gives birth to more serious issues such as scarcity of food and clean drinking water.

6. The Use of Toxic Materials:

The widespread dependency on plastic products is nothing less than a curse. Its repercussions are clearly visible now. Plastic is non-degradable and now it has reached everywhere. From the biggest species of whales to cows to the small birds, all have fallen victim to its aftermath.

Measures Taken To Save Our Earth:

To deal with these grave concerns, both developed and developing countries have started taking some major steps. Cancellation of license in case an organization fails to follow the basic guidelines of eco-friendliness is one of them.

1. Afforestation:

A lot of trees are being planted to make up for the lost vegetation. Emphasis is being given on using the natural resources carefully. People are gradually understanding the importance of using natural and renewable resources instead of non-renewable ones.

2. Use of Renewable Resources:

Solar panels, eco-friendly vehicles, recycling the garbage, and minimizing the plastic products are some of them. So many advertisements and popular slogans are being made to create awareness among the common public. If we truly love our mother earth, we must work together without any delay.

3. Water Conservation:

Water is the basis of our lives. And yet so many people in the world have no or negligible access to safe, clean drinking water. In some parts of the world, both men and women have to walk several miles to arrange water for sanitation purposes also.

As far as possible, we should never waste water. We must also teach the younger ones to close the tap when it is not in use or to use the kitchen water in the garden. During the summer season, keep some clean water in a bowl or haudi for the little birds, cows, dogs, and other such creatures.

4. Saving Electricity:

Saving electricity would also help our earth and make it less vulnerable as there is a lesser load on the earth’s natural resources. For this reason, the world celebrates what is known as the Earth Hour on the last Saturday of every March.

People in the world switch off their unnecessary lights together for an hour and display their support in saving the earth. Similarly, Earth Day is also celebrated every year on 22nd April to organize several events showing the urgency of protecting the planet.

5. Awareness in Common Public:

Today, students of all the age groups are being taught about the concept of 3Rs. This 3Rs stand for reduce, reuse, and recycle. In other words, we should reduce consumption and not allow any wastage of things such as food, water, electricity, and fuel, etc.

We should reuse materials such as bottles, old pots, cloth bags, newspapers, wood, old books, etc. And lastly, recycle all the biodegradable and eco-friendly things like an old piece of cloth, peels of vegetables and fruits, old papers, wooden stuff.

Little steps taken by one person can leave a great impact on the health of our planet. Whenever possible, walk to the nearby market. Take the stairs instead of lifts. Get your friends or colleagues to pool a car for going to the office. Be kind to the other creatures also. Plant one tree if not more.

We all should also participate in the volunteer works and make efforts to keep our neighbourhood and planet clean and green. Instead of throwing it away, recycle the kitchen garbage. Remember to arrange for a regular servicing of your vehicles.

Discourage the use of polythenes and other plastic materials. Take a cloth bag when going for grocery shopping. Conserve water and inspire others to do so as well. Save your mother earth!

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My Earth, My Responsibility

Earth is a beautiful living planet in the Universe and the common habitat of more than 7 billion human population and millions of species of biodiversity. Our Earth provides us with food, shelter and most of our requirements.

Despite unavoidable free services provided by the earth to humans, we are not able to pay off her kindness to us. Rather we humans are being cruel to our Earth with our selfish activities. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”

Voices of Youth is U NICEF's commu nity FOR YOUTH, BY YOUTH ✊✊?✊?✊? Discover other stories from young voices around the world -and share yours! How? Register in our  web , follow us on  Twitter  or use the hashtag  #VoicesOfYouth  on your social media channels. Ready to speak up for the issues you care about?

Every day we produce tons of degradable and non-degradable waste, and throw it anywhere recklessly. Smoke and harmful gases from our homes, vehicles and industries are suffocating her. We are disposing of dirty sewage, drainage and even chemicals recklessly, although we know that more than 7 billion humans, along with all plants and animals in this world, rely on water for their lives. If we aren’t concentrating on saving those water resources, then in near future water may be as expensive as PETROL or one-day people may die due to thirst. Despite huge noise by our jumbo population itself, we use loudspeakers for our entertainment & industries, airplanes or other noisy vehicles for our luxury. We destroy forests for agriculture & settlement. We build huge buildings, roads & factories beyond her carrying capacity. The establishment of nuclear reactors vastly affects the environment & human lives.

Harmful gases emitted by ACs, refrigerators, industries & vehicles are depleting ozone layer & increasing our exposure to very harmful UV rays of sun leading us towards various skin diseases, eye cataract & even cancer. Wastes like plastics & other non-degradable wastes like insecticides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers etc. highly degrade soil quality & decrease agricultural products & kills soil microorganisms & decomposers. Water pollution increases the risk of water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery etc. and lead & arsenic highly degrade our mental ability & causes the extinction of many aquatic animals. Air pollution causes airborne diseases like asthma in humans & animals and disturbs whole metabolism process in plants. Noise pollution causes insomnia & heart diseases in humans. Deforestation is leading to natural calamities like floods, soil erosion etc, temperature increase and changed rainfall distribution, drought, loss of valuable biodiversity, decreased oxygen density etc. The burning issues in the world at present are “Climate Change & Greenhouse Effect”.

Solutions to environmental problems are not impossible for superior creatures like humans, if they are committed. As a youth & global citizen, I too have the responsibilities to my mother earth. My first role in nature is to reduce my own carbon footprint via eco-friendly activities. Then, I can form a GREEN ORGANIZATION along with some other energetic youths to raise awareness in my peer circle, neighbourhood & the community about environment sanitation by changing degradable wastes into compost manure & by 3R principle (reduce, reuse & recycle) of non-degradable wastes. I can create workshops with local people that air pollution can be controlled by replacing household energy sources like coal, firewood etc. by biogas, electricity or solar energy & we can negotiate with factory owners & vehicle owners to use dust & smoke purification systems in industries & vehicles & we can encourage them to use solar-energy based industries & vehicles.

We can organize environment sanitation programs & afforestation programs in barren lands. We youths can appeal the government to bring eco-friendly development policies & proper planning of cities. We can organize orientation programs about climate change, its causes, and effects & mitigation measures in schools & colleges to induce other youths towards conservation of nature. Youths can initiate the concept of “Payment of Ecosystem services (PES)” in society & emphasize homestay tourism in the villages. As a student of the forestry sector, I have the responsibility to aware local people about the importance of forests & effects of deforestation along with the new concept of carbon trade via REDD++ programs.

Thus, for the sustainability of our planet, I promise to fulfil my responsibilities towards Mother Nature as a global citizen so as to protect my living planet from deterioration & to handover clean & green planet to our future generations. Maybe our single efforts may seem small but if thousands of youths can unite together towards nature conservation then one day our efforts will be a drastic step to protect our motherland Earth from destruction.

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Ten Love Letters to the Earth

By thich nhat hanh.

Alison Wright / The Image Bank Unreleased via Getty Images

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) was a world-renowned Buddhist Zen master, poet, author, scholar, and environmental and social activist, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hailed as “the monk who taught the world mindfulness” by Time magazine, he is the author of many influential books, including Being Peace and Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. Through his books and retreats at the monasteries he founded in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia, he became one of the most beloved figures in contemporary Buddhism, offering accessible teachings deeply rooted in ancient wisdom.

In this series of tender meditations, Ten Love Letters to the Earth , Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh invites us to be truly present with the Earth, our Mother.

Beloved Mother of All Things

D ear Mother Earth,

I bow my head before you as I look deeply and recognize that you are present in me and that I’m a part of you. I was born from you and you are always present, offering me everything I need for my nourishment and growth. My mother, my father, and all my ancestors are also your children. We breathe your fresh air. We drink your clear water. We eat your nourishing food. Your herbs heal us when we’re sick.

You are the mother of all beings. I call you by the human name Mother and yet I know your mothering nature is more vast and ancient than humankind. We are just one young species of your many children. All the millions of other species who live—or have lived—on Earth are also your children. You aren’t a person, but I know you are not less than a person either. You are a living breathing being in the form of a planet.

Each species has its own language, yet as our Mother you can understand us all. That is why you can hear me today as I open my heart to you and offer you my prayer.

Dear Mother, wherever there is soil, water, rock or air, you are there, nourishing me and giving me life. You are present in every cell of my body. My physical body is your physical body, and just as the sun and stars are present in you, they are also present in me. You are not outside of me and I am not outside of you. You are more than just my environment. You are nothing less than myself.

I promise to keep the awareness alive that you are always in me, and I am always in you. I promise to be aware that your health and well-being is my own health and well-being. I know I need to keep this awareness alive in me for us both to be peaceful, happy, healthy, and strong.

Sometimes I forget. Lost in the confusions and worries of daily life, I forget that my body is your body, and sometimes even forget that I have a body at all. Unaware of the presence of my body and the beautiful planet around me and within me, I’m unable to cherish and celebrate the precious gift of life you have given me. Dear Mother, my deep wish is to wake up to the miracle of life. I promise to train myself to be present for myself, my life, and for you in every moment. I know that my true presence is the best gift I can offer to you, the one I love.

Your Wonder, Beauty and Creativity

Each morning when I wake up you offer me twenty-four brand new hours to cherish and enjoy your beauty. You gave birth to every miraculous form of life. Your children include the clear lake, the green pine, the pink cloud, the snowcapped mountain top, the fragrant forest, the white crane, the golden deer, the extraordinary caterpillar, and every brilliant mathematician, skilled artisan, and gifted architect. You are the greatest mathematician, the most accomplished artisan, and the most talented architect of all. The simple branch of cherry blossoms, the shell of a snail, and the wing of a bat all bear witness to this amazing truth. My deep wish is to live in such a way that I am awake to each of your wonders and nourished by your beauty. I cherish your precious creativity and I smile to this gift of life.

We humans have talented artists, but how can our paintings compare to your masterpiece of the four seasons? How could we ever paint such a compelling dawn or create a more radiant dusk? We have great composers, but how can our music compare to your celestial harmony with the sun and planets—or to the sound of the rising tide? We have great heroes and heroines who have endured wars, hardship, and dangerous voyages, but how can their bravery compare to your great forbearance and patience along your hazardous journey of eons? We have many great love stories, but who among us has love as immense as your own, embracing all beings without discrimination?

Dear Mother, you have given birth to countless buddhas, saints, and enlightened beings. Shakyamuni Buddha is a child of yours. Jesus Christ is the son of God, and yet he is also the son of Man, a child of the Earth, your child. Mother Mary is also a daughter of the Earth. The Prophet Mohammed is also your child. Moses is your child. So too are all the bodhisattvas. You are also mother to eminent thinkers and scientists who have made great discoveries, investigating and understanding not only our own solar system and Milky Way, but even the most distant galaxies. It’s through these talented children that you are deepening your communication with the cosmos. Knowing that you have given birth to so many great beings, I know that you aren’t mere inert matter, but living spirit. It’s because you’re endowed with the capacity of awakening that all your children are too. Each one of us carries within ourself the seed of awakening, the ability to live in harmony with our deepest wisdom—the wisdom of interbeing.

But there are times when we have not done so well. There are times when we have not loved you enough; times when we have forgotten your true nature; and times when we have discriminated and treated you as something other than ourself. There have even been times when, through ignorance and unskillfulness, we have underestimated, exploited, wounded, and polluted you. That is why I make the deep vow today, with gratitude and love in my heart, to cherish and protect your beauty, and to embody your wondrous consciousness in my own life. I vow to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before me, to live with awakening and compassion, and so be worthy of calling myself your child.

Walking Tenderly on Mother Earth

Every time I step upon the Earth, I will train myself to see that I am walking on you, my Mother. Every time I place my feet on the Earth I have a chance to be in touch with you and with all your wonders. With every step I can touch the fact that you aren’t just beneath me, dear Mother, but you are also within me. Each mindful and gentle step can nourish me, heal me, and bring me into contact with myself and with you in the present moment.

Walking in mindfulness I can express my love, respect, and care for you, our precious Earth. I will touch the truth that mind and body are not two separate entities. I will train myself to look deeply to see your true nature: you are my loving mother, a living being, a great being—an immense, beautiful, and precious wonder. You are not only matter, you are also mind, you are also consciousness. Just as the beautiful pine or tender grain of corn possess an innate sense of knowing, so, too, do you. Within you, dear Mother Earth, there are the elements of Earth, water, air and fire; and there is also time, space, and consciousness. Our nature is your nature, which is also the nature of the cosmos.

I want to walk gently, with steps of love and with great respect. I shall walk with my own body and mind united in oneness. I know I can walk in such a way that every step is a pleasure, every step is nourishing, and every step is healing—not only for my body and mind, but also for you, dear Mother Earth. You are the most beautiful planet in our entire solar system. I do not want to run away from you, dear Mother, nor to hurry. I know I can find happiness right here with you. I do not need to rush to find more conditions for happiness in the future. At every step I can take refuge in you. At every step I can enjoy your beauties, your delicate veil of atmosphere and the miracle of gravity. I can stop my thinking. I can walk relaxingly and effortlessly. Walking in this spirit I can experience awakening. I can awaken to the fact that I am alive, and that life is a precious miracle. I can awaken to the fact that I am never alone and can never die. You are always there within me and around me at every step, nourishing me, embracing me, and carrying me far into the future.

Dear Mother, you wish that we live with more awareness and gratitude, and we can do this by generating the energies of mindfulness, peace, stability, and compassion in our daily lives. Therefore I make the promise today to return your love and fulfill this wish by investing every step I take on you with love and tenderness. I am walking not merely on matter, but on spirit.

Your Stability, Patience, and Inclusiveness

You are this infinitely beautiful blue planet, fragrant, cool, and kind. Your immeasurable patience and endurance makes you a great bodhisattva. Even though we’ve made many mistakes, you always forgive us. Every time we return to you, you are ready to open your arms and embrace us.

Whenever I am unstable, every time I lose touch with myself, or am lost in forgetfulness, sadness, hatred, or despair, I know I can come back to you. Touching you, I can find a refuge; I can reestablish my peace and regain my joy and self-confidence. You love, protect, and nurture all of us without discrimination.

You have an immense capacity to embrace, handle, and transform everything that is cast at you, whether it be great asteroids, refuse and filth, poisonous fumes, or radioactive waste. Time helps you to do this, and your history has shown that you always succeed, even if it takes millions of years. You were able to reestablish equilibrium after the devastating collision that created the moon and have endured at least five mass extinctions, reviving yourself every time. You have an extraordinary capacity to renew, transform, and heal yourself—and also us, your children.

I have faith in your great power of healing. My faith comes from my own observation and experience, not from something others have told me to believe. That’s why I know I can take refuge in you. As I walk, sit, and breathe, I can surrender myself to you, trust wholly in you, and allow you to heal me. I know I don’t have to do anything at all. I can simply relax, release all the tension in my body, and all the fears and worries in my mind. Whether I’m sitting or walking, lying down or standing, I allow myself to take refuge in you, and allow myself to be held and healed by you. I entrust myself to you, Mother Earth. Each one of us needs a place of refuge, but we may not know how to find it or how to get there. Looking deeply today, I can see that my true home, my true place of refuge is you, my beloved planet. I take refuge in you, Mother Earth. I do not have to go anywhere to find you; you are already in me and I am already in you.

Dear Mother, each time I sit in stillness on your Earth, I will be aware that because you are in me, I can embody your wonderful qualities: of solidity, perseverance, patience, and forbearance; of depth, endurance, and stability; of great courage, non-fear, and inexhaustible creativity. I vow to practice wholeheartedly to realize these qualities, knowing that you have already sown these potentials as seeds in the soil of my heart and mind.

Heaven on Earth

There are those of us who walk the Earth searching for a promised land, not realizing that you are the wondrous place we’ve been looking for our whole lives. You already are a wonderful and beautiful Kingdom of Heaven—the most beautiful planet in the solar system; the most beautiful place in the heavens. You are the Pure Land where countless buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past manifested, realized enlightenment, and taught the Dharma. I do not need to imagine a Pure Land of the Buddha to the west or a Kingdom of God above where I will go when I die. Heaven is here on Earth. The Kingdom of God is here and now. I don’t need to die to be in the Kingdom of God. In fact, I need to be very much alive. I can touch the Kingdom of God with every step. When I touch the present moment deeply in the historical dimension, I touch the kingdom; I touch the Pure Land; I touch the ultimate; and I touch eternity. In deep contact with the Earth and wonders of life, I touch my true nature. The exquisite orchid flower, the ray of sunshine, and even my own miraculous body—if they do not belong to the Kingdom of God, what does? Contemplating the Earth deeply, whether a floating cloud or a falling leaf, I can see the no-birth, no-death nature of reality. With you, dear Mother, we are carried into eternity. We have never been born and we will never die. Once we have realized this, we can then appreciate and enjoy life fully, no longer afraid of aging or death, nor caught in complexes about ourselves, nor yearning for things to be different than they are. We already are, and we already have, what we are looking for.

The Kingdom of Heaven exists, not outside of us, but within our very own hearts. Whether we’re able to touch the Kingdom of God or not at every step, depends on our way of looking, our way of listening, our way of walking. If my mind is calm and peaceful, then the very ground I’m walking on becomes a paradise.

There are those who say that in their heaven there is no suffering. But if there is no suffering, how can there be happiness? We need compost to grow flowers, and mud to grow lotuses. We need difficulties in order to arrive at realizations about them; enlightenment is always enlightenment about something.

Dear Mother, I promise to cultivate this way of looking. I promise to enjoy the practice of dwelling peacefully with mindfulness in the here and the now, so I can touch the Pure Land, the Kingdom of God, day and night. I promise that with every step I will touch eternity. With every step I will touch heaven here on Earth.

Our Journey of Eons

Do you remember when you and Father Sun first formed from the dust of exploded stars and interstellar gas? You didn’t yet wear the silken cloak of freshness that you do today. At that time, Mother, more than four and half billion years ago, your robe was made of molten rock. Soon it cooled to form a hard crust. Although Father’s light was far less than it is today, your thin atmosphere captured the heat and kept your oceans from freezing. In those first few hundred million years, you overcame many great difficulties to create an environment capable of sustaining life. You released great heat, fires, and gases from your volcanoes. Steam was expelled from your crust to become vapor in your atmosphere and the water in your great oceans. Your gravity helped anchor the life-sustaining sky, and your magnetic field prevented it from being stripped away by solar winds and cosmic rays.

But even before forming the atmosphere, you endured a collision with a great heavenly body, almost the size of Mars. Part of the impacting planet became you; the rest of it, along with some of your mantle and crust, became the moon. Dear Mother, the moon is a part of you, as beautiful as an angel. She is a kind sister to you, always following you, helping you slow down and keep your balance, and creating tidal rhythms on your body.

Our entire solar system is one family, revolving around Father Sun in a joyful and harmonious dance. First there is Mercury, metallic and cratered, closest to the sun. Next is Venus with her intense heat, high-pressure atmosphere, and volcanoes. Then there is you, beloved Mother Earth, the most beautiful of all. Beyond us orbits the Red Planet, cold and desolate Mars; and after the asteroid belt there comes the gas giant Jupiter, by far the largest planet of all, attended by an assembly of diverse moons. Beyond Jupiter orbits Saturn, the spectacularly ringed planet, followed by Uranus, tilted on his side after a collision, and, finally, distant blue Neptune with his turbulent storms and high winds.

Contemplating this splendor, I can see that you, Mother Earth, are the most precious flower in our solar system, a true jewel of the cosmos.

It took you a billion years to begin to manifest the first living beings. Complex molecules, perhaps brought to you from outer space, started to come together in self-replicating structures, slowly becoming more and more like living cells. Light particles from distant stars, millions of light years away, came to visit and stay a while. Small cells gradually became larger cells; unicellular organisms evolved into multicellular organisms. Life developed from deep within the oceans, multiplying and prospering, steadily improving the atmosphere. Slowly, the ozone layer could form, preventing harmful radiation from reaching your surface, and allowing life on land to prosper. It was only then, as the miracle of photosynthesis unfurled, that you began to wear the exquisite green mantle you do today.

But all phenomena are impermanent and ever-changing. Life over vast areas of the Earth has already been destroyed more than five times, including sixty-five million years ago, when the impact of a giant asteroid caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs and three quarters of all other species. Dear Mother, I am in awe of your capacity to be patient and creative, despite all the harsh conditions you have endured. I promise to remember our extraordinary journey of eons and to live my days with the awareness that we are all your children, and that we are all made of stars. I promise to do my part, contributing my own energy of joy and harmony to the glorious symphony of life.

Your Ultimate Reality: No Death, No Fear

You were born from the dust of distant supernovas and ancient stars. Your manifestation is but a continuation and when you cease to exist in this current form you too will continue in another. Your true nature is the ultimate dimension of reality—the nature of no-coming and no-going, no-birth and no-death. This is also our true nature. If we’re able to touch this we can experience the peace and freedom of non-fear.

And yet, because of our limited view, we still wonder what will happen to us when our physical form disintegrates. When we die, we merely return to you. You have given birth to us in the past, and we know that you will continue to give birth to us time and time again in the future. We know we can never die. Each time we manifest, we’re fresh and new; each time we return to the Earth, you receive and embrace us with great compassion. We promise to train ourselves to look deeply, to see and touch this truth—that our lifespan is your lifespan, and your lifespan is limitless.

We know that the ultimate and the historical—the noumenal and the phenomenal—are two dimensions of the same reality. Touching the historical dimension—a leaf, a flower, a pebble, a beam of light, a mountain, a river, a bird, or our own body—we can touch the ultimate. When we deeply touch the one, we touch the all. This is interbeing.

Dear Mother, we vow to see you as our body, and to see the sun as our heart. We will train ourselves to recognize you and the sun in every cell of our body. We will find you both, Mother Earth and Father Sun, in each tender leaf, in each flash of lightning, in each drop of water. Diligently, we will practice to see the ultimate and realize our own true nature. We will practice to see that we have never been born and we will never die.

We know that in the ultimate dimension there is no birth and no death, no being and no nonbeing, no suffering and no happiness, and no good and no evil. We will train ourselves to look deeply into the world of signs and appearances with the insight of interbeing, in order to see that if there were no death, there could be no birth; without suffering, there could be no happiness; without the mud, the lotus can’t grow. We know that happiness and suffering, birth and death, lean on each other. These pairs of opposites are only concepts. When we transcend these dualistic views of reality, we’re freed from all anxiety and fear.

Touching the ultimate we’re happy and at ease—we’re in our element, free from all notions and concepts. We’re as free as a bird soaring in the sky, as free as a deer leaping through the woods. Living deeply in mindfulness, we touch our true nature of interdependence and interbeing. We know we are one with you and with the whole cosmos. The ultimate reality transcends all notions and concepts. It can’t be described as personal or impersonal, material or spiritual, nor as the object or subject of mind. Ultimate reality is always shining and shining on itself. We don’t need to look for the ultimate outside of ourselves. We touch the ultimate in the very here and now.

Father Sun, My Heart

D ear Father Sun,

Your infinite light is the nourishing source of all species. You are our sun, our source of limitless light and life. Your light shines upon Mother Earth offering us warmth and beauty, helping Mother Earth to nourish us and make life possible for all species. Looking deeply into Mother Earth, I see you in Mother Earth. You aren’t only in the sky but you are also ever-present in Mother Earth and in me.

Every morning, you manifest from the East, a glorious rosy orb shining radiantly in the ten directions. You are the kindest of fathers with a great ability to understand and be compassionate, and yet at the same time you are incredibly bold and courageous. The light particles you radiate travel over 150 million kilometers from your immensely hot crown to reach us here on Earth in just over eight minutes. Every second you offer a small portion of yourself to the Earth in the form of light energy. You are present in every leaf, every flower, and every living cell. But day by day, your great physical mass of fusing plasma, 330,000 times the size of our Earth, is slowly diminishing. Within the next ten billion years most of it will transform into energy, radiating throughout the cosmos, and even though you will no longer be visible in your present form, you will be continued in every photon you have emitted. Nothing will be lost, only transformed.

Dear Father, your creative synergy with Mother Earth makes life possible. Mother’s slight tilt in her orbit offers us the four extraordinary seasons. Her miracle of photosynthesis harnesses your energy and creates oxygen for the atmosphere to protect us from your blazing ultraviolet radiation. Over the eons, Mother has skillfully harvested and stored your sunlight to sustain her children and enhance her beauty. Birds can enjoy soaring through the sky and deer can enjoy darting through the woods because of your creative harmony with Mother Earth. Each species can delight in its element thanks to your nourishing light and the miraculous canopy of the atmosphere embracing, protecting, and nurturing us all.

There is a heart inside of each and every one of us. If our heart were to stop beating, then we would die instantly. But when we look up toward the sky, we know that you, Father Sun, are also our heart. You aren’t just outside of this tiny body of ours, you are within every cell of our body, and the body of Mother Earth.

Dear Father, you are an integral part of the whole cosmos and our solar system. If you were to disappear, then our life, as well as that of Mother Earth, would also end. I aspire to look deeply to see you, Father Sun, as my heart, and to see the interrelationship, the interbeing nature between Father Sun, Mother Earth, myself, and all beings. I aspire to practice to love Mother Earth, Father Sun, and for human beings to love one another with the radiant insight of nonduality and interbeing in order to help us transcend all kinds of discrimination, fear, jealousy, resentment, hatred, and despair.

Homo Conscius

We have given ourselves the name homo sapiens . The precursors of our species began to appear only a few million years ago, in the form of apes such as orrorin tugenensis who could stand, leaving their hands free to do many things. As they learned to use tools and communicate, their brains grew and developed, and over six million years they gradually evolved into homo sapiens. As agriculture and societies emerged, we acquired new capacities unique to our species. We became self-aware and began to question our place in the cosmos. Yet we also developed traits in discord with our true nature. Because of our ignorance and suffering, we have acted with cruelty, meanness, and violence. But we also have the ability, with spiritual practice, to be compassionate and help- ful toward not only our own species but also other species—to become buddhas, saints, and bodhisattvas. All humans, without exception, have this potential to become awakened beings able to protect you, our Mother, and preserve your beauty.

Whether we’re human, animal, plant, or mineral, each of us has the nature of awakening because we are all your offspring. Yet we humans are often proud of our mind consciousness. We are proud of our powerful telescopes and ability to observe distant galaxies. But few of us realize that our consciousness is your own; you are deepening your understanding of the cosmos through us. Proud of our capacity to be aware of ourselves and the cosmos, we overlook the fact that our mind consciousness is limited by our habitual tendency to discriminate and conceptualize. We differentiate between birth and death, being and nonbeing, inside and outside, individual and collective. Nonetheless, there are humans who have looked deeply, cultivated their mind of awareness, and overcome these habitual tendencies, to attain the wisdom of nondiscrimination. They have been able to touch the ultimate dimension within them and around them. They have been able to continue you on the path of evolution, guiding others toward the insight of nonduality, transforming all separation, discrimination, fear, hatred, and despair.

Dear Mother, thanks to the precious gift of awareness, we can recognize our own presence and realize our true place in you and in the cosmos. We humans are no longer naive in thinking ourselves the masters of the universe. We know that in terms of the universe we are tiny and insignificant, and yet our minds are capable of encompassing numberless worlds. We know that our beautiful planet Earth is not the center of the universe, and yet we can still see it as one of the universe’s many wondrous manifestations. We have developed science and technology, and discovered reality’s true nature of no-birth and no-death, of neither being nor nonbeing, neither increasing nor decreasing, neither the same nor different. We realize that the one contains the all, that the greatest is contained within the smallest, and that each particle of dust contains the whole cosmos. We are learning to love you and our Father more, and to love one another in the light of this insight of interbeing. We know that this nondualistic way of seeing things can help us to transcend all discrimination, fear, jealousy, hatred, and despair.

Shakyamuni Buddha was a child of yours who attained full awakening at the foot of the Bodhi tree. After his long journey of seeking, he realized that the Earth is our true and only home, and that heaven, the whole cosmos, and the ultimate dimension can be touched right here with you. Dear Mother, we promise to remain with you throughout countless lifetimes, offering you our talent, strength, and health so that many more bodhisattvas can continue to rise up from your soil.

Can You Count on Us?

The human species is but one of your many children. Unfortunately, many of us have been blinded by greed, pride, and delusion, and only a few of us have been able to recognize you as our Mother. Not realizing this, we have done you great harm, compromising both your health and your beauty. Our deluded minds push us to exploit you and create more and more discord, putting you and all your forms of life under stress and strain. Looking deeply, we also recognize that you have enough patience, endurance and energy to embrace and transform all the damage we have caused, even if it takes you hundreds of millions of years.

When greed and pride overtake our basic survival needs, the result is always violence and unnecessary devastation. We know that whenever one species develops too rapidly, exceeding its natural limit, there is great loss and damage, and the lives of other species are endangered. For equilibrium to be restored, causes and conditions naturally arise to bring about the destruction and annihilation of that species. Often these causes and conditions originate from within the destructive species itself. We have learned that when we perpetrate violence toward our own and other species, we are violent toward ourselves. When we know how to protect all beings, we are protecting ourselves.

We understand that all things are impermanent and without a separate self-nature. You and Father Sun, like everything else in the cosmos, are constantly changing, and you are only made of non-you elements. That is why we know that, in the ultimate dimension, you transcend birth and death, being and nonbeing. Nonetheless, we need to protect you and restore balance, so that you can continue for a long time in this beautiful and precious form, not just for our children and their children but for five hundred million years and beyond. We want to protect you so you can remain a glorious jewel within our solar system for eons to come.

We know that you want us to live in such a way that in each moment of our daily lives we can cherish life and generate the energies of mindfulness, peace, solidity, compassion, and love. We vow to fulfill your wish and respond to your love. We have the deep conviction that generating these wholesome energies, we will help reduce the suffering on Earth and contribute to alleviating the suffering caused by violence, war, hunger, and illness. In alleviating our suffering, we alleviate yours.

Dear Mother, there have been times when we suffered greatly as a result of natural disasters. We know that whenever we suffer, you suffer through us. The floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis aren’t punishments or manifestations of your anger, but are phenomena that must occur on occasion, so that balance can be restored. The same is true of a shooting star. For balance in nature to be achieved, at times some species have to endure loss. In those moments, we have turned to you, dear Mother, and asked whether or not we could count on you, on your stability and compassion. You didn’t answer us right away. Then, beholding us with great compassion, you replied, “Yes, of course, you can count on your Mother. I will always be there for you.” But then you said, “Dear children, you must ask yourselves, can your Mother Earth count on you?”

Dear Mother, today, we offer you our solemn reply, “Yes, Mother, you can count on us.”

From Love Letter to the Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh (2013). By permission of Parallax Press , the publishing house of the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism .

Image Credits: NASA

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Making Promises to Mother Earth

The students in the Lower Elementary Downstairs class looked deep inside their hearts on Earth Day to make and write promises to Mother Earth that they could – and would – commit to keeping. They all enjoyed creating their own planet Earths using recyclable tissue paper, and writing their promises on hearts to show their love for our one and only home. Here are some of the promises our students made:

“I promise to respect Mother nature.”

“I promise I will be kind to people.”

“I promise to pick up garbage every day.”

“I promise to recycle everything I use.”

“I promise to clean you up.”

“I promise I will not litter.”

“I promise will do my best to keep you clean, Earth.”

“I promise I will go on beach clean-ups.”

“I promise to not pollute.”

” I promise to reuse waste.”

” I promise I will plant more.”

” I promise to recycle everything I can.”

” I promise to use stuff rather than throwing it away.”

“I promise to never litter and instead recycle.”

“I promise to respect Mother Nature.”

“I will never make a mess.”

“I promise to take good, good care of the Earth.”

“I promise to never litter ever again.”

“I promise I will clean up the planet.”

“I promise I will pack litter-less lunches.”

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Humanity’s Attachment to Mother Earth

Caring for the Earth and for our environment seems to have been a notion dear to humankind since the dawn of time. Even to this day, many of those societies that are deemed “primitive” for having retained elements of a lifestyle that most human societies abandoned millennia ago exhibit, to some degree, a sense of protection of the Planet.

Nowadays, global climate change and environment and wildlife protection have never been more talked about, with the prospect of humankind irremediably damaging our Home. At the same time, this destruction of our environment is taking its toll on us: some natural resources such as oil, soil and fisheries are being used up, and subsequently conflicts and entrenched hunger are being exacerbated by this scarcity.

Our profligate use of the Planet is backfiring on us psychologically, as if we had a latent need to empathize with Earth’s condition, as if it were a person. Others even dare speak of a “Nature Deficit Disorder” in children.

As a clinical psychologist, I attempt to build theories about human emotions based on contact with individuals. I have been wondering about the implications of seeing the Planet as having a direct, spiritual and psychological relationship with every single one of us. Using the framework of psychoanalysis, symbolisms, and a touch of ecological philosophy, as well as research on ecology, I shall try to offer a perspective on the use of culture in our fight to protect our Earth.

Mother Earth

Symbols and depictions of Earth as a nurturer have been long present in human societies. For example, the Yggdrasil tree from Germanic mythology connects different parts of the world, and is revered by the gods themselves as a source of holiness and a symbol of life and power. In that same mythology, it is from two trees that mankind has been created, from the raw fabric of nature. The Christian Bible holds the creation of our species in the clay, an element born from the soil itself.

The Yggdrasil tree, from Germanic mythology, connects different parts of the world and is revered by the gods themselves as a source of holiness and a symbol of life and power.

Also, it is not uncommon to see the Earth being prayed to, and being invoked, as being the “Mother of Life”, and the mother of all living things in its dominion. Various peoples long to return to her, to her embrace, and bury their bodies in her, tying their souls with her mercy. Indeed, with such a focus on giving life and providing for us, no wonder that across many cultures, fertility deities are goddesses sharing a deep affinity with the Earth. They are portrayed as mothers, answering the prayers of their offspring.

Philosopher Mircea Eliade proposed a reflection about the “Mother Earth”. He compared Earth to the mother, on a symbolic level. Just like the mother, it is the first object of attachment that we encounter in the objective world. Earth holds us like a mother, it nurtures us like a mother does, providing food, chemicals, wood, and answering our every need in a seemingly omnipotent way, akin to the vision an infant has of its all-powerful mother until it has grown enough to fend for itself.

Moreover, clinical experience has demonstrated instances when patients separated from their homeland (immigrant workers, refugees, nomads) exhibit symptoms of depression and anxiety, echoing the situation of a child deprived of its mother’s care. The similarity comes from the feeling of abandonment from the loss of a familiar, known, secure, gratifying object.

Psychoanalyst Melanie Klein theorized, from her observation of babies, that an infant at some stage fears that it has “damaged” its mother by clinging to her and feeding off her, and this causes the child to enter a phase of depression subsequent to so much guilt. This guilt actually allows us to mature enough and form a psyche that can both withstand frustration and develop an ability to feel remorse.

Are we moved enough by the plight of the planet to question ourselves, deal with depression and make amends at the same time?

This would mean that guilt and the ensuing need to “repair” are experienced at the very early moments of our life. While these theories are quite controversial, the central message is that humankind is capable of developing a stable psyche because of our very deep capacity to feel bad about our actions, and to delve into a more ”gentle” identity and accept to make amends by learning, by “being good”, and then by repairing the damage we have caused. As children, we thrive on a “good enough mother” , rather than an all-powerful mother, and the guilt from damaging the mother, by claiming too much from her — in another form of all-powerfulness — is one step towards socialization and the integration of norms and values.

In practice, it is often very apparent in adults how many of their everyday actions have a source in their early interactions with their mothers. In regards to Earth, this is something that is quite apparent too: we do feel deeply moved by the consequences of our use of Earth and our all-powerfulness towards her.

One main question remains though: are we moved enough by the plight of the planet to question ourselves, deal with depression and make amends at the same time? If we are not, we should think of ways to allow ourselves to be moved by those feelings so familiar and yet so terrifying because they force us to confront the possibility that we are in fact powerless and our ultimate fear of becoming victims of something we cannot control at all — the revenge of she who created and fed, and on whom we depend for everything.

Culture as a mediator

Since the times of the ancient Egyptians, and even before, culture and its practice were a means to give hope to humankind by reassuring us about death, the separation from life and its benevolent sources, through rituals and rites. Various civilizations have harvest rites in order to honor the Earth: they have not only ecological and economic benefits, but also psychological ones. By recreating with symbols and reenactments our fantasies of immortality and reunion with the First Object, the Territory of Ultimate Gratifications, we create a psychic phenomenon that comforts us.

Moreover, cultural norms — delivered through the rites of passage and rituals — allow human beings to put a distance between them and topics too painful to deal with at an individual level, such as death and separation. By providing rules through which to respond to these situations, culture both protects and heals; it has the ability to connect with our deepest emotions.

From the Amazonian Yanomani, to the arctic Inuits, to the Namibian San, and even for people in urban areas, deep down we all harbour feelings of belonging to “a land”, and belonging to “the land”. Indeed, attachment to a place, to a scenery, to a soil that has nurtured us for generations, is one of the contributors to our sense of safety and our psychological stability. This need for a locus to lean on is vital to human existence.

Eco-activist and Noble Prize recipient Wangari Maathai was among the most audible voices arguing for a reconsideration of nature as an object deserving dignity and respect, and retribution. Personifying Earth, Maathai seems to be calling for a broader perspective on ecological issues, going beyond the traditional economic worries, and underlining the fight for our humanity and what exactly makes us human, through the fight for our Planet.

From the Amazonian Yanomani, to the arctic Inuits, to the Namibian San, and even for people in urban areas, deep down we all harbour feelings of belonging to “a land”, and belonging to “the land”.

The Chipko movement , led by Indian women, is an interesting example of very concrete activism, drawing on a humanization of nature and ideas of female empowerment. The Chipko movement emerged during the 70s as a form of non-violent ecological activism. Its members gathered to literally hug trees in order to prevent them being cut for industrial use. One of the movement’s supporters is renowned Indian philosopher and eco-feminist Dr. Vandana Shiva . Dr. Shiva linked the concerns of women to those of nature, stating that both were victims of a male-dominated, patriarchal society. In that vision, nature is brought back to its feminine aspect, and through identification with “her”, an emotional movement comes to life, to defend quite worldly causes.

To this day, some cultures of the world have retained a socially enforced protection of nature. That is to say that in their core cultural practices, they showcase ecological “militantism”.  The traditional bamanan society of Mali — among others — have a Totemic cult for every family. Based on one’s last name, people would be required to care for and protect a particular animal species. That allowed for a “quota” of killing in every animal population and actually regulated the biodiversity at the same time. Tales tell of instances when someone would transgress the totem and become “mad” as a curse. This might have been an expression of guilt over the breaking of sacred covenants. This example illustrates a will to interlink the fate of humans with nature, to such an extent that a person would socially or mentally alienate themselves when severing ties with nature.

Lights, camera, inaction

So, how could we use those timeless values with our current cultural productions to cater to our Mother Earth? One obvious medium, as a recent article on the rise of environmental documentaries has suggested, is through film.

French journalist Eric Neuhoff stated in a controversial review of French eco-activist Nicolas Hulot’s documentary Le Syndrome du Titanic that, after watching the movie, he simply wanted to pollute more. The main argument of Neuhoff’s review was that the movie was so disheartening in its depiction of the current global ecological situation that it actually sent out the message that it was too late and that the planet was doomed to die. In that documentary, Hulot chose to show vivid images of major ecological crises and their impact on food (for instance, droughts in Africa), and animals (carcasses in the wild), all the while only scarcely commenting, letting viewers emotionally engage with the matters at hand. Many critics praising the initiative also complained about the overall execution of the movie.

That contrasts with the film Home by Yann Arthus Bertrand , available free online, and its gorgeous images of our home, the Earth. Home garnered massive acclaim from both critics and viewers, as a message of “Love to Earth”, and optimistic affirmation of the need to protect it.

One major risk that all documentaries face is that they join the chorus of constant activism which may become tiresome for audiences after a while. One question we may raise is whether such frontal endeavours are not hindering the appeal to masses in this matter of environmental activism. Home’s message, however great the execution may have been and however legitimate the overall intention was, was deemed quite simplistic at times by critics, in that it mirrored the many, constant political speeches about the need to protect our home.

In integrating culture into the fight for the Earth through movies and other forms of cultural expression such as video games or music, we might have an opportunity to tap into deeper levels of attachment to our planet by speaking directly to our emotions. At present, activism is speaking mainly to rational thoughts about environmental decline and our associated guilt and fear.

Sure, betting on fear might be considered a useful tactic, but it bets on our anxiety towards the unknown. We could bet instead on the gratifying feelings of security and nurturing that lead us to love the Earth, and find our way in vows of love, protection of the Great Mother who we have damaged so much.

Ultimately, however, by appealing to emotions in addition to hard facts, through the magic of our cultural institutions, we can assist communities to find the strength necessary, to be empowered, ecologically savvy individuals, part of a global movement to save our collective mother, Earth. This should include communication through art forms such as cartoons, or video games, that have been categorized as “lowly” for some time. My own experiences as a clinical psychologist involved in “video game therapy” have opened my eyes on the many wonderful uses some superficially simple game may have when used properly.

So, should we be hugging trees to feel better on a psychological level? Maybe in a near future, we will each be put in charge of our own totem that we will have to protect and honour in our everyday life. At the very least, we know that educating individuals from an early age to be aware of nature, by drawing upon our emotional connection to nature and our cultural platforms, has proven useful in human societies before.

Oumar Konare

Oumar Konare is from Mali and is a former intern in the United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP). After earning the title of clinical psychologist in France, he is now researching “The function of religion in the Muslim population of Mali” for his Ph.D. thesis. Konare’s interests include religious studies, culture and cultural practices as therapy, psychology in social and political contexts, and ethnic and group identity questions in the modern world.

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Letter from Mother Earth

Dear Mankind, most favoured of my children ,

I wrote to you some time ago about the dangers and threats to our joint future that your species, the most beloved of my children, had brought about for yourselves , for me and for all who co-exist on this fragile blue planet. I outlined the problems and what needed to be done to create a safer and fairer world for all ( Mother Earth’s blogs ). I really thought things were about to improve and that mankind had at last recognised that they must adopt more sustainable ways of living and learn to live in harmony with the environment and all fauna and flora so that we are not all destroyed. I was encouraged when your species agreed the sustainable development goals ( SDGs) and laid out the path for a more equitable future for all. The fact that all the countries in the world, your political leaders, the biggest companies and organizations around the world had all agreed and committed themselves to take such enlightened action delighted me and made me proud that your species had at last begun to be more responsible and caring about others and our joint future.

Sadly , sometimes events transpire that test our resolve. The rosy picture of the future that I had imagined has been shattered during the last 2 years and much of the ground that was beginning to be gained through the SDGs has been lost due to the covid 19 Pandemic. This event has shown in no uncertain terms just how intimately linked we all are. The fact that a local incident in a poorer country, thousands of miles away can have such a devastating impact worldwide and bring deaths and illness to millions shows why the richer countries need to improve conditions in the less developed world. It has also demonstrated just how much inequality and unfairness still exists in the world and in some cases, has added to such inequalities and unfairness. Even the distribution of and access to the vaccines highlights the continuing disparities and inequities of the world

It is estimated that around 11 billion doses of vaccines are required to vaccinate 70% of the world population ( assuming 2 doses per person ) in order to achieve population-level or “herd” immunity. Although your Pharma industries have done an amazing job in developing vaccines and have manufactured hundreds of millions of doses, it is wealthy countries who have captured an overwhelming share of the benefit. High- and upper-middle-income countries, representing just 20% of the world’s population, have pre bought around 6 billion doses ( 55%) ; but low- and lower-middle-income countries, representing 80% of the population, have secured only around 2.6 billion ( 24%) . In the 29 poorest countries ( home to about 9 % of the world’s population) only 0.3% of the global vaccine doses have been given. As a result only about 8.4 % of people in low-income countries have had at least 1 covid vaccination. Nigeria has only 2% of its population fully vaccinated , Ghana 7.4 % , Kenya 7.2 % More needs to be done to get vaccinations to the low-income countries and for the richer countries it should be seen a matter of self-interest since the reality is “ until all are safe, no one is safe”

A complicating factor is that vaccines distributed to African countries are often close to expiry date so have a short shelf life and their delivery is often erratic. This, added to difficulties of poor infrastructure, lack of refrigeration etc. make efficient distribution and use of vaccines very difficult . Nigeria for example, recently had to destroy more than a million doses of vaccines that were close to expiring and could not be got out to rural areas in time to be used. Until those in the developing world are also protected, the risk of future covid variants and mutations remain a risk for all.

Sadly the momentum that was building on the SDGs implementation prior to the Pandemic has also been lost to some extent and renewed efforts are needed to reinvigorate the momentum that was beginning to occur before the Pandemic started. Over the next few months I will review the current status of progress and the impact of covid 19 on each of the 17 SDGs and provide short updates. I will also identify the potential innovations and developments that show most promise.

Mother Earth

Sources : The Sustainable Development Goals Reports 2019 -2021 , United nations , New York

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Mother Earth Essay

500+ words mother earth essay.

The planet we live on is also known as Mother Earth. This is due to its life-giving properties and resources that nurture all the living beings on Earth, just like a mother does. Our Mother Earth has nurtured us, provided food and shelter to us and cared for us to help us grow and evolve. But we humans haven’t reciprocated in kind, instead, we’re the cause of many of the problems that have put the planet at risk.

We have exploited our Mother Earth for many years by using its resources indiscriminately without giving anything back. We take over land by cutting down trees to build homes, industries, and more. And we don’t bother about the destroyed trees or plants or about planting them again. All this has led to environmental issues that have put our planet at risk of degradation and ruin. It is high time that we realised the need to save Mother Earth.

Why Should We Save Our Mother Earth?

Our planet is vital for our survival. Had it not been for the abundant resources available on Earth, we would not have been able to flourish on this planet. The excellent atmosphere, which contains gases, especially oxygen, ensures that life sustains on the planet. But the constant exploitation has led to the degradation of the planet and depletion of resources. We cannot wait for someone else to save our planet; we need to take action now. We should collectively work towards saving our Mother Earth because there’s no other planet to live on.

Human Activities Resulting in Damage to Mother Earth

1. Human-made Disasters

To satisfy our reckless needs and self-interests, we have exhausted most of the earth’s non-renewable resources. Many oil wells have been exhausted, compensating for the fuel needs of the growing population and countless vehicles. As a result, we have depleted all these precious energy sources and degraded the quality of life for other living beings.

2. Earthquakes and Air Pollution

The ever increasing demand for fossil fuels, such as coal, has led to constant digging and mining of the land. This is one of the primary reasons behind the frequent catastrophic disasters like earthquakes. Additionally, the toxic fumes and gases produced by the combustion of these fuels have increased air pollution and caused global warming.

3. Deforestation

The ever-expanding population means more need for land for habitation and factories. This has resulted in an enormous increase in deforestation. More and more trees are being cut to clear the land and build homes. Deforestation leads to the loosening of the soil, which means higher chances of floods, landslides and other disasters. Additionally, trees are the main source of oxygen, and lesser trees mean less breathable air and more greenhouse gases.

4. Extinction of Flora and Fauna Species

Constant deforestation leads to the loss of habitats. Wild animals have no place to live, and as a result, their chances of being hunted or killed also rise. This is the reason many animal species are becoming extinct. Small species like butterflies, birds etc., play an essential role in human survival. So, the more we exploit Mother Earth for our greed, the more we destroy.

5. Scarcity of Water

The diminishing forest areas are responsible for inferior air quality and disturbed water cycles. Lack of rain creates drought, and farmers face a significant challenge in irrigating crops. This again gives birth to more severe issues, such as scarcity of food and clean drinking water.

Measures to Save the Earth

The need of the hour is to take drastic measures on a large scale to help save our Mother Earth. But we can take simple measures as individuals too. We should spare the forests and revive them through afforestation and reforestation. Plants are essential for life on Earth to survive and sustain. They are necessary to maintain the harmony of the environment. We should also stop deforestation and clean up water bodies. Using water and other natural resources sparingly and efficiently also helps save Mother Earth.

A significant number of animal and bird species have been wiped out due to the destruction of their environment. They play a significant role in balancing the evolved way of life in nature and in saving our Mother Earth. The favourable conditions on Mother Earth for our survival have been reduced continuously because of deforestation, industrialisation, urbanisation, and contamination.

The government and individuals must come together to save the Earth. We can make people aware of the consequences of not taking care of the earth. They can be taught how to contribute to its protection. If this collective effort starts happening, we can save Earth.

Conclusion of Mother Earth Essay

In conclusion, the journey to save mother Earth is still in its early stages. But it is possible to restore Mother Earth and protect it if we take the right measures now. The Earth has everything that is necessary to sustain our existence, and that is why it is essential to save it from extinction. In the quest to save the Earth, further destruction should be prevented to impact the efforts.

We hope you found this essay on Mother Earth. For more CBSE Essays on different topics, visit BYJU’S website.

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Essay on Save Earth for Students and Children

500+ words essay on save earth.

Earth and the resources of earth make life possible on it. If we were to imagine our lives without these resources, that would not be possible. As life cannot function without sunshine , air, vegetation , and water . However, this is soon going to be our reality if we do not save the earth now.

The resources earth provides us with are limited. They are blessings which we do not count. Human has become selfish and is utilizing the earth’s resources at a rapid rate. We need to protect them in order to protect our lives. This is so because man and all living organisms depend on the earth for their survival.

It is The Need of the Hour

To say that saving the earth is the need of the hour would be an understatement. All the activities of humans driven by greed and selfishness have caused immense damage to the earth. It is degraded it beyond repair. Almost all the natural resources are now polluted due to these activities.

When all these resources will be under threat, naturally lives of all living organisms will be under peril. This is why we need to save the earth at all costs. All the other issues are secondary and saving the earth is the main concern. For when the earth will not remain, the other issues will go away automatically.

Earth is the only planet which can sustain life on it. We do not have a planet B which we can move onto. This makes it all the more serious to save the earth and save our lives. If we do not take strict actions now, we will lose the chance of seeing our future generations flourish forever. Everyone must come together for the same causes, as we are inhabitants of this planet firstly and then anything else.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

How to Save Earth

As all human activities are impacting the lives of other organisms, humans only need to take steps to protect the earth and its resources. A little effort will go a long way on everyone’s end. Each action will make a difference. For instance, if one man decides to stop drinking bottled water, thousands of plastic can be saved from consuming.

Furthermore, we can start by planting more trees to make up for the deforestation that is happening these days at a rapid rate. When we plant more trees, ecological balance can be restored and we can improve the quality of life.

Similarly, we must stop wasting water. When done on individual levels, this will create a huge impact on conserving water. We must not pollute our water bodies by dumping waste in it. It is essential to save water most importantly as it is running out rapidly.

In short, the government and individuals must come together to save the earth. We can make people aware of the consequences of not saving the earth. They can be taught ways and how they can contribute to saving the earth. If all this collective effort starts happening, we can surely save our planet earth and make brighter earth.

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Earth Day / Love letters to Mother Earth

In celebration of Earth day on April 22, 2021, we offer Love Letters to the Earth from Thich Nhat Hanh and recent retreatants as well as inviting you to offer your own.

Our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), in 2013 published a collection of letters to Mother Earth and also often encouraged his students to write their own love letters to the Earth. Following Thay’s letter to the Earth are excerpts of love letters written by lay practitioners participating in the recent retreat for activists – Action from the Heart. If you are inspired by these offerings, please also add your love letter in the comments section for everyone to read and be nourished by them.

When you realize the Earth is so much more than simply the environment, you will be moved to protect her as you would yourself. Thich Nhat Hanh

Your Wonder, Beauty and Creativity

Thich nhat hanh.

Dear Mother Earth,

Each morning when I wake up you offer me twenty-four brand new hours to cherish and enjoy your beauty. You gave birth to every miraculous form of life. Your children include the clear lake, the green pine, the pink cloud, the snowcapped mountain-top, the fragrant forest, the white crane, the golden deer, the extraordinary caterpillar, and every brilliant mathematician, skilled artisan, and gifted architect. You are the greatest mathematician, the most accomplished artisan, and the most talented architect of all. The simple branch of cherry blossoms, the shell of a snail, and the wing of a bat all bear witness to this amazing truth. My deep wish is to live in such a way that I am awake to each of your wonders and nourished by your beauty. I cherish your precious creativity and I smile to this gift of life.

We humans have talented artists, but how can our paintings compare to your masterpiece of the four seasons? How could we ever paint such a compelling dawn or create a more radiant dusk? We have great composers, but how can our music compare to your celestial harmony with the sun and planets—or to the sound of the rising tide? We have great heroes and heroines who have endured wars, hardship, and dangerous voyages, but how can their bravery compare to your great forbearance and patience along your hazardous journey of eons? We have many great love stories, but who among us has love as immense as your own, embracing all beings without discrimination?

Dear Mother, you have given birth to countless buddhas, saints, and enlightened beings. Shakyamuni Buddha is a child of yours. Jesus Christ is the son of God, and yet he is also the son of Man, a child of the Earth, your child. Mother Mary is also a daughter of the Earth. The Prophet Mohammed is also your child. Moses is your child. So too are all the bodhisattvas. You are also mother to eminent thinkers and scientists who have made great discoveries, investigating and understanding not only our own solar system and Milky Way, but even the most distant galaxies. It’s through these talented children that you are deepening your communication with the cosmos. Knowing that you have given birth to so many great beings, I know that you aren’t mere inert matter, but living spirit. It’s because you’re endowed with the capacity of awakening that all your children are too. Each one of us carries within ourself the seed of awakening, the ability to live in harmony with our deepest wisdom—the wisdom of interbeing.

But there are times when we have not done so well. There are times when we have not loved you enough; times when we have forgotten your true nature; and times when we have discriminated and treated you as something other than ourself. There have even been times when, through ignorance and unskillfulness, we have underestimated, exploited, wounded, and polluted you. That is why I make the deep vow today, with gratitude and love in my heart, to cherish and protect your beauty, and to embody your wondrous consciousness in my own life. I vow to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before me, to live with awakening and compassion, and so be worthy of calling myself your child.

Extracted from Love Letter to the Earth (Parallax Press, 2013)

Enjoy some love letters written by our lay friends

Dear Mother Earth, I have never stopped being amazed by your design. And I stop all the time to admire it and to wonder. What gave you the idea for the Mandarin Duck, Octopus, Rhinoceros? When did you add a flash of blue on jay’s wing? Paint turquoise Kingfisher’s cape? Put a crown on the Peacock’s head? I am in awe of this formation of clouds and that silver birch shimmering in the wind. “Look, look” – I call to a friend. Yeah, she says, and her face says “so what?” I am lucky and I feel rich. My Mother gave me the gift of noticing the beauty and harmony in grasses and pebbles and colours of the sky. Perhaps it was the greatest gift I received from her. It allowed me, even in the depth of depression, to hear the birdsong, admire the rose or smell the lilac, and , for all your gifts. I love you and I will do what I can to protect you. Today I made three prostrations to solidify my commitment. Zofia Bentley

Though I know this intellectually, the more I practice, the more I know that when I address you, I address myself. How wondrous is this intimate connection that challenges my notion of (my)self and other! When I act, I am acting as a part of you. Yet I have free will, such is your generosity. My mind is a part of your mind, because you and I — one being — are both mind and matter. When I take action on your behalf, it is out of love, and it is also out of self interest, because you are my larger body. When I neglect myself, I am neglecting you, because I am you. This restructuring of my/our identity is at the foundation of what I think humanity needs to embrace. We and the Earth are One. And yet, in the historical dimension, there is the Other to love and cherish. My art and teaching are devoted to both perceptions: Love of the other-than-human and the perception of oneness, though most recently, it’s the former. In beginning anew, therefore, I’ve decided that in addition to all I do to prevent you/me from harm, I must do something about my eating habits, which I have been aware for sometime, have not been in alignment with my values. Therefore, I began a vegetarian diet during the retreat (as was suggested in the beginning). And in just a few days, I have found that there are ways to enjoy your fruits without contributing to the suffering of animals. I had had a compartment in my mind that separated my eating habits from all the other services I provide out of love and my adoration for you. Yet when it comes to myself I have not been able to integrate myself into you completely. I believe this is because of the eating habits I inherited, and the fragmented thinking I inherited from the larger culture. In my family, food meant love – a particular kind of food that almost always included animals. This change in eating habits is as much a rewiring of my neurons as any other practice that goes against my conditioning, particularly my habits of thinking and speech — they are the most stubborn!……. May this act of compassionate eating help bring me closer to you, allow me to cross over from dualistic thinking to unitive thinking. To identify with you completely and with all other beings, human, animal, vegetable and mineral. Angela Manno (Sacred Harmony of the Heart)

Dear Mother Earth! It is not easy to see You when one lives in a big city, at a big intersection, where every day hundreds-thousands of cars and buses pass by, polluting your air and enveloping us with noise; people are always rushing and at all hours. I see You in the morning when I drink my tea and hear the sparrows under the roof talking excitedly, when I look out the window and see the ravens swinging on the (only remaining) birch tree. I feel You on the way to work…. with every step; when I walk up the stairs from the subway, a strong wind comes towards me, fog hides the skyscrapers – sometimes. All this is You. Also the children on their way to school, sometimes laughing, sometimes arguing, the garbage on the sidewalk a carelessly discarded piece of You, the smell from the bakery…. On my way I pass an avenue of birch and maple trees – they stand side by side in harmony – some tall and narrow and others smaller with spreading branches. There I stop and breathe with them – they in – I out, they out – I in. For a while I forget the noise. A church congregation has created a small garden – the No Man’s Land Garden – so small and yet so full of life. People meet there, everyone seems to plant something different – all year long I see something new every day. I never see these people and yet they show themselves through your garden. Thank you Mother Earth for giving us your strength even when we are in places not so favorable to you. And thank you having shared with us the Beginning anew Ceremony and the Earth touchings. In gratitude, Daniela Simm

To My Beloved Mother Earth, I will write to you again and again … you nourish and sustain me every day. I promise to take care of you as best as I am able. Here is a song I wrote for you, with blessings, your daughter,

Max (True Aspiration of the Heart).

[ You can also listen to the song here . ] I’ll write a love letter to the Earth, a love letter I will love you as you’ve loved me, I will love you better than be]ore A love letter to the Earth, a love letter Sealed with a solemn promise I will love you forever more You give me life; you take care of me each day You awaken all my senses in a thousand different ways Your rivers quench my thirst, you offer shelter in your arms and then You feed me and you clothe me and you keep me from harm I’ll write a love letter to the Earth, a love letter I will love you as you’ve loved me, I will love you better than before A love letter to the Earth, a love letter Sealed with a solemn promise I will love you forever more You’re a miracle, a jewel, yeah, you have never failed Despite the ways I’ve hurt you, you have always prevailed Now you’re crying and you’re burning and our home is falling down So I’m gonna use my power! I’m gonna use my power! I’m gonna use my power to turn this system ’round I’ll write a love letter to the Earth, a love letter I will love you as you’ve loved me, I will love you better than before A love letter to the Earth, a love letter Sealed with a solemn promise I will love you forever A love letter to the Earth, a love letter I will love you as you’ve loved me, I will love you better than before A love letter to the Earth, a love letter Sealed with a solemn promise I will love you forever more.

….It’s been a while eh? Horrible I know but I appreciate u and your grace. I just finished a retreat with plum village and it was quite amazing. I miss u so much and yet, u are here with me. You’re truly amazing and I love u deeply. I don’t even know how deeply I can love u yet but I hope that I will remember to come back to my breathing and connect with u regularly, at least more regularly than I have been. I’ve been having a hard time, as u may know. I kinda feel like I’m talking to god and that can spin off in another letter. This letter is for u mom. So here it is. We just did that [Beginning Anew] ceremony and it was so nice to connect w u again. When I look around, I see u every where and even when I think about the eyes I’m using to look at u, I know u are there, in my eyes! U are everywhere and everything! It’s a true wonder when I think about it. I love u so much, u are so much, and I promise to love u. I promise to treat u well and I appreciate the ways u care for me. In every step I take, every breath I make, u’ll be watching me, haha, but for real, u a homie. close friend Mother Earth, I care deeply for those who suffer and it makes me sad that my siblings hurt [each] other. I was feeling very frustrated and confused. I was lost, but now I’m found. Just like another song of yours. Oo, u everywhere. I feel like I don’t have enough words to communicate with u but I also take comfort in knowing that this is just part of our journey. There will be many more letters and renewals (I just renewed my library book, wish me luck on that traffic ticket!) to come. I love u, truly deeply and I thrive in the love u have for me.

Your humble loving child, Ng

If you feel inspired, please do write your own letter, or short message to Mother Earth below. You might write about:

• What notice about the Earth
• What you are grateful for
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What is mindfulness.

Thich Nhat Hanh January 15, 2020

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• UN Observances

Secretary-General's message 2024

Humanity is acting like Mother Earth’s delinquent child.

We depend on nature for the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. Yet, we have brought chaos to the natural world: poisoning our planet with pollution, wiping out species and ecosystems with abandon, and destabilising our climate with greenhouse gas emissions.

These actions harm nature, and they harm humanity. We are imperilling food production, polluting our ocean and air, creating a more dangerous, less stable environment, and holding back sustainable development.

Together, we must restore harmony with nature, embrace sustainable production and consumption, and protect ourselves from harm – creating jobs, reducing poverty and driving sustainable development as we do so. 

That means slamming the brakes on biodiversity loss, putting a stop to pollution, and slashing greenhouse gas emissions globally. It means supporting Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and others being hit hardest by the pollution, climate and biodiversity crises. It means delivering climate justice to countries on the frontline of climate chaos, and swiftly mobilising the finance and support countries need to act on climate, protect nature and promote sustainable development.

Countries must produce new national climate plans that align with limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. These can double as national transition plans and national investment plans, underpinning sustainable development for generations to come. And the G20 must lead a fast, fair and funded global phaseout of fossil fuels, and put a stop to nature-wrecking subsidies, such as those that underwrite runaway production of planet-choking plastics.

Repairing relations with Mother Earth is the mother of all of humanity’s challenges. We must act – and act now – to create a better future for us all.

Repairing relations with Mother Earth is the mother of all of humanity’s challenges. We must act – and act now – to create a better future for us all.” António Guterres

Op-Ed by the Secretary-General

A joyous celebration of music, freedom, diversity and human dignity

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A Love Letter to Mother Earth

WORDS BY ELIE GORDON

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and our favorite lover is Mother Earth herself. The Frontline invites Atmos social editor Elie Gordon to write a love letter to the planet, as she shares the reality of being Black outdoors and how welcoming Mother Earth can be.

Dear Mother Earth,

Here’s to you, the first mother I knew. You’re where I was born, where I continue to grow, where I eat, and play, and love. I call you by a human name, but I know your nature is greater and more ancient than humankind. We are just one of the youngest of your many children—and maybe the most rebellious.

I’m an ever-curious mind seeking out meaning within things that can’t be explained by our little brains. I’ve settled on the notion that you create magic beyond the realms of science or philosophy.

As I’ve grown, I’ve found myself fortunate enough to enjoy your presence time and time again. Whiling away hours amongst your trees, along your rivers, and atop your peaks. I take solace in your warmth; you always welcome me with open arms to places some others of my kind do not. Through no fault of your own, your open fields have been fenced off and stamped with a false sense of ownership. For those lucky enough to take their first breaths and first steps far from the gray of towns and cities, your green pastures are home.

And for them, as for everyone, home is safety.

That sense of safety shifts with my presence. My skin too dark, my hair too unstraight. The lies they’ve been told over centuries seeping into their unconscious, making them fear our outward differences. A fear that intensifies toward those with skin tones even darker than mine. Eyes that can’t help but glance or stare from a place of discomfort. But still I continue loving you, not allowing their discomfort to keep me from you.

You are a source of hope. The kind of hope that’s necessary right now given what we’ve done to you. We’ve created systems to exploit. We’ve even given a name to your generous offerings: resources. We all get lost in ourselves sometimes—forgetting we’re forever connected to you. When we breathe your air, drink your water, use your herbs to heal us when we’re sick, we silently thank you.

My presence is the best gift I can give to you now—an awareness of you in every moment. And a promise to fight for you in every way I can.

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Home / Essay Samples / Environment / Natural Environment / Our Mother Nature

Our Mother Nature

• Category: Environment
• Topic: Natural Environment , Natural Resources

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