Earth Day Offering

Almost exactly one month ago, my daughter and I spent an hour on the road below our driveway. In the dark and pelting rain, we cast our headlamps back-and-forth across the pavement, scanning for life. It was Big Night, and we were out helping salamanders and frogs as they crossed the road that divides their winter hibernation location from the spring mating pools.

We had been preparing for the moment, studying Big Night and how best to be of service, but nothing could have prepared us for the feeling of that evening. Afterwards, I jotted down this brief reflection, which I share today in honor of Earth Day.

This reflection is not specifically about climate work and certainly not about energy solutions. It is a piece about loving the Earth, being filled with wonder at the strength and life of other beings, and finding a sense of purpose in serving the Earth, our collective home. When I consider what is needed most right now, as we navigate unprecedented threats to all the ecosystems of this planet, I keep coming back to love. When we truly love, we become vulnerable, as the act of loving connects our well-being to another. When it comes to the Earth and the many other beings who call this planet home, we are always interconnected in intricate webs of vulnerability, whether we realize that fact or not. My most profound hope is that, through love for this planet, we allow ourselves to experience and ACT on that vulnerability, together.

The rain pelts against my hood as I walk up the driveway. My headlamp beams towards the distant lights of our house, glowing warm through the dark night. Suddenly, another headlamp appears, bouncing as my daughter runs to greet me.

It is Big Night. From their winter habitat, amphibians are journeying to their vernal mating grounds. Many are crossing the road below our home. And, for the first time, my daughter is coming to help facilitate safe crossings.

Her face is full of wonder and delight. Her father woke her to join me at the road, and she is alert to the privilege and responsibility. As we journey back down the driveway, she carefully wets her gloves in a puddle to be sure not to hurt the creatures with her touch. She is shivering with excitement.

At the road’s edge, our lamps scan between raindrops. Suddenly, we pick up a shape, a dark creature making its way onto the pavement. We hustle over. I gently scoop up the yellow spotted salamander and place it softly into my daughter’s waiting hands. She stares. “Hi!” she breathes. I escort them both safely across the road and into the woods on the other side. She gently releases her special cargo and watches as the salamander wiggles its way onward.

An hour later, we walk back up our driveway, dripping and exhilarated. Inside, my daughter sips hot tea with honey, sitting in her father’s lap. I watch her. She carries herself with a sense of purpose I recognize. She has spent the past hour entirely focused on helping in her community. She had made a difference that she could see; on numerous occasions, we safely shepherded a salamander across the road only to step aside moments later as a car barreled past. Another life saved.

I recognized how she felt. I see that same purpose in my fellow collaborators in climate solutions. And it is more than just purpose. We feel connected.

When I reflect on the gifts we receive from participating in climate solutions, while hope certainly rises to the top, so, too, does this sense of connection. There is so much in the world today that would seek to isolate us from one another. And yet, we have never been more interdependent. As I feel networks of collaboration grow throughout communities both near and far, networks of people who are stepping forward, offering whatever they might have to give towards solutions, I know that if anything can save us, it will be this sense of community.