The Earth Needs a Cool Cloth

The Woods here wear a blanket of smoke thousands of miles from the fires.  The trees breathe in the carbon and all the other toxins as they try to absorb the planetary fever.  Their oxygen exhale struggles to keep us healthy enough to weather the worst of these toxic days.

If the trees don’t breathe, we don’t live.
It’s really that simple.  We are not separate.  There are no borders in the skies.
There are no borders between my lungs and the CPR administered by the trees.
No borders. None.  We are earth.  The earth is us.  And the fires are the fever.

Where will the cooling cloth for earth’s forehead come from?

Today when I can barely see the hills 1 km away and the acrid smell causes my lungs to constrict, hope constricts too.

“Where will [our] help come from?
….[Our] help comes from the One who Made Heaven and Earth.” (Psalm 121)

Please don’t stop reading because I’m quoting scripture.

Whatever you think of the Divine, the Sacred balance, the web of interconnection, the Buddha nature, these smoke laden skies are the clearest reminder this week, that the Creator’s delicate balance, earth’s balance, has been disturbed by those who would be gods.

We are not gods.
We cannot be gods.

Only inspiration from the Creator of the original design will be able to help us now.

On Pentecost Sunday (June 8 this year), Spirit reminds us that there are truly no divisions.
Ecological Economists seek a systems approach to the interconnected complexity of economy and environment.
Greta Thunberg tried to wake everyone up and is still trying.

And yet, while the fever rages, first I need to weep: I need to weep because so far, we have failed.

“The greatest teacher, failure is” (courtesy of Yoda in The Last Jedi).

Maybe lament and humility will be the cool cloth we need.

written by Marilyn June 5^th, 2025