Earth Week 2020 begins with clean air over many cities on earth, a beyond-metaphorical silver lining to the pandemic. In the midst of global anxiety, many people are noticing that the intricate webs of life on our small blue planet have never been so clear. Thanks to a dangerous unknown virus, received certainties about how we live are replaced with the simple reality that we’re all together on the earth no matter where we are.
The other evening, I watched Global Citizen’s musical tribute to people on the frontlines of COVID-19. So many people from so many places and cultures working to help others, to care for the needs for food, for medical care and for safety: the natural human impulses of generosity, kindness, and compassion could not be clearer.
And the natural impulse of creativity: the beautiful and often funny posters that people are making to cheer up those who are ill or alone are spontaneous expressions of this gift we have. We find the words, the music, the images, and the narratives that move us to action and new understandings.
Earth Week falls in April, National Poetry Month in the United States. I usually participate in activities such as writing a poem a day and carrying small slips of paper with short poems to leave in public places. Because of the pandemic, I’m doing less, but still writing poems and reading those in the Spring Issue of leapingclear.org. Mobi Warren’s moving metaphors and observations bring us close to the insect world, without which we could not exist. Deborah Kennedy’s beautiful mixed media tribute to ocean and plankton reminds us how intricate, spacious, and necessary the oceans are for us.
The earth remains our only home as we learn to navigate the different social and economic world we’re in now. We have the privilege to care for it, to nurture it, to celebrate it. If you can, take a walk near water, trees, or open spaces. Notice leaves and flowers, ants and birds and creatures you haven’t seen before. Plant a garden or a seed. Take care, keep safe.
With all good wishes for our health and safety and ease of being,
Carolyn Dille
Founding Editor