“Life on earth is more like a verb. It repairs, maintains, re-creates, and outdoes itself.” - Lynn Margulis

Of all the blog posts so far, I think this one really hones in on the verb starting each of part of the 3 Step Reciprocity Cyle -- Acknowledge, Discover, Work. What do you think?

Acknowledge Earth Is Our Home

My brain knows that this is probably a simple leaf held by a spider web, but there's something magical about the suspension. The floating. This portal along the path.

It makes me take pause.

To honor it.

To notice my own physical sensations as I observe it.

To wonder who I will be when I'm on the other side of it.

Discover Your Earth Archetype

In honor of Indigenous People’s Day this week, I wanted to share a question I get sometimes...

“Where do Indigenous people exist on the Earth Archetype spectrum?”

My first response is…

Anywhere.  

They are humans who bring diverse skillsets just like anyone else.  

However there are AT LEAST 2 additional factors. 

The Embodiment Earth Archetype encapsulates a more intuitive, observational relationship with the land.  

A type of communication that is beyond the strict structures of modern life.  

In fact, most earth based languages are quite different than widespread languages like English and Spanish.

These languages are descriptive instead of direct.  

Where divisions we make in the modern world between story, ecology, and natural law are combined into the ways of being.  

So Embodiment may be a tendency as an Earth Archetype.

But then distinction No. 2 comes into play.  

Many Earth based cultures have been assimilated, brutalized, executed, and more at the hand of colonizing cultures.  

So many Indigenous people have been forced to adapt to industrialized ways of being.  

As a result, the best way to answer the question, 

“Where do Indigenous people exist on the Earth Archetype spectrum?”

Is that it’s quite likely they have at least 2 strong types.  

Embodiment + another.

For example Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass is all about a search for reconciliation between her Embodiment and Network ways of being.  

Amy Cordalis, a Yurok Tribal Lawyer, blends Embodiment and Weaver.  

All in all, the Earth Archetypes have never been about putting anyone in a box.  

Simply a way to help people live a reciprocal relationship with nature.  

Something Indigenous people around the world have a lot to show us.  

So let’s honor all who have suffered to keep this relationship alive and who have much to teach us into the future. 

Work Together in Community

Solitaire Townsend is someone I've looked up to this past year after meeting her at Climate Week NYC.

She is an amazing Weaver Earth Archetype -- bringing people and ideas across divides.

Fully in her logical precision and artistic expression.

Lately, she has written a regular article in Forbes about all things climate.

And her latest is an eloquent description of the current inroads and ongoing potential of reality tv in the climate conversation.

“Reality TV has long reflected society’s shifting values, offering a lens into real-world concerns through unscripted storytelling. From dating shows to survival challenges, and cooking competitions to home makeovers, these shows reveal the zeitgeist of our collective wants and needs. And that gives reality TV the power to normalise climate solutions by making sustainability exciting, aspirational, and a central part of the narratives.”

It will serve as a great resource for those of us writing grants and talking to partners about our projects.