Earth Day 2021 Special: From Daniela With Love

This is a message addressed at Earth, but it'll surely touch you, too. After reading, at least I hope so, you'll feel grounded, peaceful and back in touch with nature a tad bit more.

 

 

Hello my dear friend!

This is Daniela and I’m back with a special article on the Science of Travel Blog today! This is entirely dedicated to Earth, as today we celebrate EarthDay.

The theme for EarthDay 2021 as presented by the EarthDay.org website is “Restore Our Earth”. EarthDay is a global environmental movement with the goal to bring awareness to the preservation of nature, to educate about climate change and to positively influence the decisions of world leaders and to empower all citizens.

I personally feel powerless and even hopeless sometimes when it comes to climate change and the current state of the world.

I think that I can’t make a change, that it doesn’t matter what I think, because politicians don’t care about me and my opinions anyways. And that is really sad.

The EarthDay committee wants to remind me that I’m more powerful than I think, and that my actions and decisions do matter. I’m grateful for that, because that feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness can drag us into a deep hole.

So, today, let’s focus on our power.

We vote with every dollar or euro or whatever curreny you have, we spend, as it sends immediate feedback to the companies who sell the products. We have a voice in elections and we have a vote, at least in my country, and I’m so thankful for that.

We can always educate ourselves, we can talk about the environment with our friends and family, spread awareness, and we can encourage each other to use the bike more often, just as an example.

I’m so grateful for this platform, the Science of Travel Blog and EarthyUniversity, as it gives me the opportunity to share what I learn about Earth.

And I feel so grateful to be spending the rest of my life learning and sharing about Earth. I truly feel so lucky. And I’m so thankful for every listener, reader, email subscriber and EarthyU student, I feel so lucky that YOU are listening (or reading) right now.

Our daily decisions have an impact, a bigger impact than we realize.

Today I’d like you think of what you can do to live more in harmony with nature and to live more sustainably.

Tell me in the comments down below or send me an email (daniela[at]earthyme.de). But if you do it publicly your chosen action could inspire others, too.

I personally commit to continuing to eat less meat and dairy products, to using my bike as often as I can and to purchasing as little plastic products as I can. I also commit to purchasing new clothes only if I need them, not as a reward or out of pleasure, and to buying food and clothes from ecofriendly companies who treat the nature and their workers fairly.

Even if I can’t afford purchasing sustainable products daily and exclusively, I'm still making a difference if I do it regularly and with awareness.

And, most importantly to me personally, I commit to spending my life researching and educating about Earth, and to sharing the knowledge in hopes of making a change in your life and to positively influence your daily decisions, too.

What follows is a short message to Earth that I recorded for last year’s EarthDay, but it's still so true and deep and I’d love to share it again this year.

Take a moment to sit down and truly take in the message, allow yourself to feel everything that comes up inside you.

 

Dear Earth,

you’re my home.

You are the only home I’ll ever have.

I’m infinitely grateful for you. Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine I escape gravity. I fly to space and see you from above. It’s a view only a few hundred lucky astronauts have had.

They say it’s a humbling view. A view that puts things into perspective. I know what they mean. I feel it. I feel it strongly. In my head and heart, I’m there as well. I’m floating in space, gazing down on you, flying.

A big smile on my face, my pride endless. Happy, and proud, to be your inhabitant. To be human. Marveling at the wonder in front of my eyes, at you. I look onto your blue body, sprinkled with rocks that form continents.

You are glorious. You’re unbelievably heavy, yet you’re floating. Space is holding you. Space is holding us.

As Carl Sagan so famously said about you: "Earth is are very small stage in a vast cosmic arena." It’s a fundamental fact not everybody has grasped yet. Humans haven’t learned to appreciate you the way you deserve.

And it hurts me for you. We exploit you. Tear open your soil, dig oozing wounds, in search for resources that promise wealth. We cut your trees, kill your insects, your coral and other animals.

Not unbeknownst to us, we’re hurting ourselves by hurting you. Worse even, we’re causing extinction. Not understanding that everything is connected. That each action will force effects, even if we can’t see them immediately.

We’re oblivious. We live in symbiosis with you. We need you to live. But some humans think they’re better than you, than nature. That they’re superior and don’t need nature. That they don’t need you. That you only deliver what they want to possess. That they can have anything they want.

We think we’re so important.

Earth, I love your smell. Especially when you cleared the air with cooling rain and stroked your plants with gentle rain drops. Your soil smells so good, so earthy. You create the best scents.

I love your taste. Your fruits and vegetables feed our hungry mouths. You care for us. I want to care for you. I want to live in harmony with you. I want to live with you, not against you.

I love you infinitely. I love your colors. Your colors are magnificent. Red sunsets, blue sky, colorful rainbows, green grass and forests, bright flowers, brown soil.

I love your inhabitants, too. Your plants, your animals, all your animals. Even the ones that look scary and that we humans have degraded and demonized because of their looks.

But that’s what we do. We base judgment on outer appearance, not on the value a living creature provides. Which is their real beauty. Blinded by fear, disgust, self-glorification, greed, envy. When we should be guided by love, kindness, compassion and empathy.

I know that every organism has its purpose. I know that every single human has a purpose, too.

But I know that I’m not perfect either. I judge, too. I’m not always grateful. I’m not entirely altruistic. I don’t care about some things I should care about much more.

But I know that I’m not perfect. I’m human.

And I know that every person has its purpose. Each of us is uniquely talented. We all complete each other. We couldn’t be without one another.

And you complete us. Earth, we couldn’t be without you. We couldn’t exist without you.

And I want to say thank you. For putting up with us this far. Thank you for providing everything we will ever need.

I want to tell you that I promise to be there for you, the way you’re there for me. I promise to try to lead a life as close to you as I possibly can.

I promise to protect you.

Earth, I never feel lonely. Because I have you.

Your presence is breath-giving.

You’re life-giving. I love you infinitely.

And I know you love me infinitely, too.

 

I hope you enjoyed this message.

I’d love to hear from you: What is it that you would like to do to live more in harmony with nature and to live more sustainably?

Tell me in the comments or send me an email (daniela[at]earthyme.de]. But if you do it publicly your chosen action could inspire others, too. 

Until next time,

Bye

Daniela!

PS: This is the EarthDay website. 

 

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About the author

Daniela is convinced that by gaining deep insights into planet Earth and travel destinations you’ll create meaningful, grounding and memorable life and travel experiences. She explains fundamental geological processes that form and shape landscapes and combines these insights with philosophical and philanthropical views in her online courses, articles, newsletter. She holds two bachelor's degrees in geosciences (B.Sc.) and business administration with tourism (B.A.). She is the owner and founder of EarthyMe, EarthyUniversity and the Science of Travel blog and the Stories of Earth newsletter.

 

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Image: Stonehaven, near Dunnottar Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (photographed by Daniela Dägele)