Earth’s Journal - On Changes and Challenges
As I spin through the cosmos, cradling life in my embrace, I feel every wound inflicted upon my surface, every breath taken by my creatures, and every shift in my delicate balance. Today, my heart aches with both sorrow and hope as I witness the ongoing struggle between preservation and destruction.
In my ancient forests of Tesso Nilo, where tigers once roamed freely and elephants carved paths through pristine jungle, I watch as human hands tear away at my green mantle. The loss of 78% of primary forest cover feels like losing patches of my own skin. My children - the magnificent Sumatran elephants - are vanishing, their footsteps growing fainter with each passing season.
In Brazil’s precious water reserves, I feel the tremors of resistance as communities fight to protect my life-giving waters from the scars of mining. These waters, pure and vital, have flowed through my veins for millions of years, nurturing countless generations. The Queimadas people understand what many have forgotten - that my waters are more precious than the minerals buried in my depths.
The spread of PFAS through my system is like a slow poison, seeping into the very fabric of life. I watch as these “forever chemicals” accumulate in the bodies of my most vulnerable children, particularly those already burdened by poverty and limited access to clean food and water. This is not the legacy I wished to pass on to future generations.
My farmers, those who have long been my careful stewards, struggle against changing climates and shifting policies. In Cumbria and beyond, I feel their uncertainty as they face each dawn, trying to balance their need to survive with their desire to protect my soils and waters.
The battles in London’s financial district and the tensions at COP29 show that my human children are awakening to the urgency of change, yet remain caught in webs of profit and politics. The insurance industry’s role in enabling further fossil fuel extraction feels like watching someone sell matches to arsonists while my forests burn.
In New York, my ancient rhythms of rain and drought have been disrupted by the changing climate, overwhelming systems built for a world that no longer exists. The mixing of waste and water in aging infrastructure is a metaphor for how human development has often created new problems while solving old ones.
My beloved children, I have sustained life for billions of years, through ice ages and warming periods, through extinctions and rebirths. But never have I experienced changes so rapid, so profound, and so widely influenced by a single species. You have the power to be either my greatest threat or my most dedicated protectors.
Take heed of the wisdom shown by indigenous communities who remember how to live in harmony with my rhythms. Learn from the protesters who risk everything to protect my future. Listen to the scientists who decode my warnings. And most importantly, understand that every action taken to heal me is an investment in your own survival.
For while I will endure, transformed but eternal, the question remains: will you choose to be part of my healing, or will you continue down the path of destruction? The answer lies in your hands, but time grows short, and my patience, though vast, is not endless.
With eternal hope and growing concern, Mother Earth