For humans and earth, what opportunities are our current crises presenting? Read below for thoughts from The School for Humans & Earth.
I’m delighted to announce that the first episodes of the Humans & Earth Podcast have been released in both audio and video. I think you’ll love my conversation with Rachel Pfotenhauer about connecting to Earth, and you can also find an episode introducing the Podcast.
Upcoming episodes feature Akilah Martin, Jeilene Tracey, Stephan Harding, Bayo Akomolafe, and Cara Gubbins—learn more below!
We’re being called to interdependence
We’re experiencing tumult on Earth this year. It can be challenging to feel safe, grounded, and calm.
But do you wonder if the crises that seem separate are pointing us in the same healing direction?
What if each crisis is an invitation to go deeper in our interdependence and regeneration?
How can we allow these crises to become pathways to regeneration of Earth, the human-nature relationship, and human-human relationships? This time when the world seems to be falling apart may be a rich opportunity to re-build in healing ways.
We are being called to tend interdependence at a new level as we endeavor to cooperatively address the pandemic, cooperatively address racism, cooperatively handle political divides (plus natural disasters and major accidents such as in Beirut), and still pay attention to both human wellness and Earth’s. I’m not saying I think we’re handling all of this with perfect ease and grace. But I see interdependence and healing for people and planet progressing.
I believe we are learning that we have more choice than we previously realized in how life unfolds on Earth. We can choose to allow environmental destruction, domination of some people by others, and inequality, or we can choose to create new levels of environmental healing, interdependence, and equality among all humans and among all species.
The School for Humans & Earth is here to support you as you contribute to this work of regeneration for people and planet.
How are you feeling called to tend to regeneration? This could be in your household or your spiritual practices, in your job or community, or by creating a new solution or offering in the larger world. What is calling for your loving attention?
For one, I believe Earth is calling to us. Listen to my interview with Rachel Pfotenhauer for a comforting discussion of how to easily connect with Earth to support your well-being and hers. I’ve already heard from one listener that the Earth-connection practice Rachel shares in this episode is the deepest she has ever encountered. You’re welcome to let me know about your experience.
The pandemic is painful. Yet we’ve seen around the world this year that when humans reduce our environmental pressure, the natural world starts to recover and regeneration of Earth seems more feasible: air pollution and greenhouse gas levels have dropped, dolphins re-appeared in the waters around Venice, and the European Union is crafting plans for a green economic recovery. Austria, Belgium, Portugal, and Sweden have closed coal plants, while Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania are considering the same move. South Korea recently announced a $61 billion investment toward a green recovery focused on attaining net-zero carbon emissions and creating green jobs. Sydney is now 100% renewably powered. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill stating that all new federal buildings must be built to be bird-friendly, and the state of New York has already taken this step.
More people than ever have been spending time outdoors. I’ve relished meditating in my backyard and tending my gardens. Never before this year have I seen so many children playing outside in my neighborhood, or so many people enjoying parks and walking trails, or starting gardens.
Although the pandemic is tragic and very stressful, it’s also opening our awareness and action toward living more intentionally, cooperatively, sustainably, and regeneratively, just as heightened awareness of our racial crisis in the U.S. is opening us toward what I hope will be the deepest anti-racism work we’ve ever done. I believe these crises are all pointing us toward interdependence: interdependence that is harmless and supportive of all life.
The School for Humans & Earth is here to nurture your advocacy for the natural world and humans’ right relationship to it. And with that as our focus, humans’ right relationship to one another is also a high priority. How we treat the natural world, and how we treat one another, are deeply intertwined.
Our website is nearly complete and I’ll announce it soon. For now, check out the wonderful podcast interview with Rachel Pfotenhauer on how to connect directly to Earth for your own clarity and healing, and to support Earth.
If you subscribe to the podcast (we’re newly listed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, & Stitcher), you’ll receive notifications of upcoming interviews. If you prefer to watch the video version, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel.
In the next several weeks we’ll release interviews with animal communicator and ecologist Dr. Cara Gubbins, Gaia-theory expert Dr. Stephan Harding, soil scientist and life coach Dr. Akilah Martin, spiritual alignment and co-creation expert Lana Shlafer, and scholar and civilization-renewer Dr. Bayo Akomolafe. Getting to be in conversation with these people, and share their insights with you, is a huge joy to me.
E-courses and one-on-one mentoring will be available very soon, and I am excited to tell you more. Bringing The School for Humans & Earth into being is my honor and delight.
Please follow us on social media via the buttons below. I’ll be sharing videos and other content on Instagram and Facebook.
For Humans & Earth,
Chara Armon