EARTH DAY 2020
As someone who loves nature and being outdoors, I am finding being without a garden a real struggle, although I know I am otherwise in a very fortunate situation. Nature has always been an escape for me, a way to slow down, breathe and calm the mind.
In this current situation there are many people worldwide living in blocks of tiny flats without access to a personal garden - single parent households with multiple children to look after and people who suffer from mental health which may make going out for a walk an anxiety-inducing situation. Then there are our most vulnerable - the elderly, those suffering from ill health and those living in poverty. Access to a private, natural space is seen as a luxury and something that is necessary, particularly in times like these, for our health and wellbeing.
If there is anything that this pandemic has revealed, it is that we have become completely detached from our natural environment. We have clumsily encroached our way into previously untouched wildlife habitats through deforestation and disrupted the natural balance of delicate ecosystems through events such as the wildlife trade. All of this has brought humans and wildlife into ever increasing contact increasing the likelihood of zoonotic infectious diseases.
In a devastating vicious cycle, this in turn will affect our poorest living in low-income countries. Without financial support such as furlough schemes, they have no other option but to exploit natural resources through deforestation and hunting endemic and endangered species to feed themselves and their families. (please see https://theconversation.com/natures-comeback-no-the-coronavirus-pandemic-threatens-the-worlds-wildlife-136209?utm_medium=ampfacebook&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2j3JdGv77urImZzJx_4utRYzGBa56Il0tB3MXTCxnil5NTPBqRjn7W14E for further information about this)
If we continue to be reluctant to change our relationship and attitude to the natural world, this pandemic will definitely not be the last.
Of course, staying home at the moment is the only option to keep us safe, however I don’t believe that humans are meant to be cooped up inside for so long and so disconnected from nature. We are after all, part of the ecosystem.
I recently read a quote from a fantastic book which sums all my feelings up in one and puts it far more eloquently than I ever could:
“We are highly adaptable, yet what is bred deep in the bone keeps emerging in the psyche. We crave our wild born roots. If we don’t feed them we feel alienated, not human. We feel hybrid, a lost being turning in an ever-tightening cycle of madness. Each step back to our source, our origins, brings us closer to love, to that which is known and cherished somewhere within us.
Every single human is wild born. It’s impossible to remove that mark. Wild living is not about returning to forager status. It’s about relationships with what is wild, about knowing a small part of wild nature and letting it live inside the soul” – an excerpt from Sea Change by Craig Foster + Ross Frylinck
There is a tree outside our bedroom window which has been slowly blooming into the most magnificent shades of green. It has given me so much joy every day and I am so thankful for it.
We are not sure how long our current situation will last, but I hope that each day, whether you have a garden or not, you can take a breather and let nature be your well deserved timeout from all the madness.
Happy Earth Day
#earthday2020 #earthday #lockdown #coronavirus #spring
