Radical Joy for Hard Times: Healing ourselves as we try to heal the world around us

Although I like to think that taking my Climate Change Communication class is a rewarding journey, I know that can also be emotionally taxing. We spend the entire semester talking about climate change, obviously, so …

Recreating beauty in a wounded national park

The south-east of Australia lost much of its wild places over the (southern) summer of 2019/20. Uncontainable bush fires ran through from August 2019 to early February 2020. People died, houses were lost and forest …

For Travelers at the Border

Carol Zuccarino is volunteering and living at a shelter on the border of Mexico to work with asylum seekers. She sent the following description of their Global Earth Exchange: Yesterday our small group of three …

But the trees never came back

There are woods in back of my house that are very dear to me—I walk on the trails most of the year, and cross-country ski on them during the winter. Those woods and trails are …

Overhauling

This year’s story: I found this sign in a shop and found it amusing as I work mainly as a massage therapist and this seemed appropriate and funny. By now, a few months later and …

What is a “worthwhile action”?

 What constitutes a “worthwhile action” when the whole of Earth is sick and wounded, when people are so without a sense of place they are willing to set what passes for theirs on fire?  So, …

Enemies

This year I am acutely aware that what I was called to do was heal my relationships with the people I am judging to have wounded the land. This became an uncomfortable practice as I …

Gratitude for nature’s spaces

Louise and I decided to give gratitude to our nature spaces (Louise’s balcony and my garden ) that nurtured us through lockdown. We each spent time there at the weekend, reflecting and being with the …

Centered at Home

This year, I placed the Radical Joy banner on our front door along with the “welcome but keep your distance” sign and a heart from Montpelier’s annual Valentine Phantom who leaves hearts ALL OVER Montpelier. …

Lasting Stewardship

Modoc National forest is the homeland of the Modoc native peoples who were, like so many other native peoples, were driven from their homes force marched from northern California to Oklahoma where they were forced …

Forgiving and figuring out

I have had a very difficult time doing this practice this week. I loved the zoom introduction and speakers last week and followed all of the questions and responses online even though I haven’t participated …

Wounded Rivers/Wounded People

Story & Experience This year, 2020, I once again, returned to the banks of the Ohio River near Green Bottom, WV for my Global Earth Exchange. The Ohio River is the most polluted River in …

Garden Earth Exchange

Our Earth Exchange this morning was at the garden I have been attending. It is a lovely garden enjoyed by many in the city park, although its beauty is now “western” artifice. This dry place …

Bird for trees lost to a building site

We visited a site that was cleared of trees for the building of a hotel and honored the site.

Wyman Park Global Earth Exchange

Again, Autumn Van Ord and I went to Wyman Park in Baltimore City to have our Earth Exchange. We continue to feel elated that this park been cleaned up and cared for by the city. …

High Hope Ranch Global Earth Exchange

Here is a sequence from High Hope for our 7th year in participation with the Global Earth Exchange… A full group was gathered; folks from Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex who came for a Solstice …

Radical Joy for Land That Isn’t There

Eight of us gathered, socially-distanced, under the trees at the edge of a sheer drop-off overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. For generations the spot was known in the community as a beloved spot for picnics, church …

Roses of Renewal

The Corona virus and the George Floyd riots have showed sickness on many levels – from personal health, the luxury to breathe, and to the larger colonial forces still at work in wounded times. The …

Treephilia with Redcedar

This was my tenth Global Earth Exchange in support of Radical Joy for Hard Times. Each year I have followed the suggested steps for engaging this ritual. Because of the utterly unprecedented times we are …

For an Old Apple Tree That’s Gone

Last week an old apple tree in our front yard had to be cut down. It hadn’t been doing well for years, and it had stopped making apples. The apples it used to bring forth …

Earth Exchange at Rocky Flats-Standley Lake

from Sasha: We did the Earth Exchange last Monday, and here is a brief description of what happened. In short, it was a very positive experience for all who gathered. Below are descriptions of the …

Gentle Waters, Wild Earth

What an amazing and beautiful time we had along Crooked Creek in rural Missouri. We gathered at Pat Tohulske’s Elemental Earthcamp on Friday, setting up our tent sites between storms. Earthcamp is a magical place …

From the Lake District to Dorset

As we set off for our vacation in West Dorset, we expected to find many sadly neglected areas along the roadside and around service stations as we journeyed and had planned to do ‘guerrilla sowing …

Kilvey Earth Exchange

My mother had an operation the day before the Global Earth Exchange, so due to the uncertainty as to how that would unfold, we didn’t make it official, as didn’t want to let people down. …

Smooth Rock Croc

It was really fantastic to share this event with a friend. We saw all this construction in the town and choose that as a place to honor. We honored what came before the new building …

The Occasional Beauty of Barbed Wire

The land we were on for our wilderness rites of passage program is private land with a logging history. There is a big tumble of rusted, old barbed wire right near basecamp. So on June …

Pilgrimage in a Burnt Forest

I head into the Sierras to explore the area burnt by the Donnell Fire in 2018. Wikipedia says that 36,450 acres (147.5 km2) were burnt, but I don’t have any concept of what that means. I …

Church of the Woods Earth Exchange

The people of Church of the Woods in Canterbury, NH, USA, gathered on a little knoll amidst a forest that is vibrantly regrowing after destructive logging. Humans have cut forests around the globe for centuries, …

Share Love, Not Trash

The walk through the park to the site I had in mind was a mixed experience for me: I walked with my partner, who is not familiar with the paths, and felt somewhat self-conscious of …

Tlholego

Good morning all, I personally had and felt a rush of rejuvenating experiences, moments and thoughts. I came to Tlholego as a neo-nomad, looking to experience exactly what a former scout would expect… Normal camping, …

The Willows at Red Oak (women’s recovery program)

The group first individually shared “sacred” places in nature to which they feel personally connected. Then we participated in a sit-spot experiential, focusing on connecting with the space and asking if there was any “wisdom” …

Heartflow: Honoring the Housatonic River

We had an amazing event to honor the Housatonic River and lift up the Rights of Nature movement for the Berkshires.  Over 60 people participated in song, inquiry, contemplation, music making, and offering for the …

Land Healing After Fire

Sunday the 23 of June, I am hitchhiking to the site of my cabin, when I see a hawk circling above. I know it is a sign to me of reassurance from the Spirit world …

Waimanalo

Nine of us came together for our Global Earth Exchange. There were a couple who had participated previously but most were new to the practice. We started by sharing our names and why we chose …

An Environmental Mistake

I wore the 2011 T shirt to my zazen session on June 22 and asked permission to talk about the meaning of the event, the picture, the purpose of the artwork. We had a pretty …

The Politics of Ecology

I made a small bird from blue plastic. My creative act is captured in this picture which is the edge between a toxic field and a superfund site—both edged up together. The image I took …

Renewing Our Covenant with the Earth

Our event was small this year. My neighbors and I gathered to sit with the trees and plants in my front yard, create intentions (which we burned—see photos), and take vows:   Renewing Our Vows …

Daring to Bear Witness: Valley Brook, Cheshire, England

A small group of us from the local branch of Animal Welfare Party (seven people – five adults and two children – plus three dogs) met at Fanny’s Croft and slowly followed the course of …

Honoring Healing Waters

We met in the early morning on the summer solstice at the river.  Our group included elders, parents and children.  Together we created a ceremony where all participants added to our communal offering to acknowledge, …

All Are Our Relations

Once, all people lived in close relationship with nature. Time and history have withered the bond between the human and the other-than-human world. Despite this, the Earth and All Our Relations continue to generously give …

Anointing Land

Mid-winter and raining finely. I chose this piece of land because I pass it every day. It is both wounded and beautiful, like me and most of us. Wounded as it includes a polluted stream, …

The Land of Sorrow

Ireland is traditionally known as ‘the land of saints and scholars’. As I planned how I could bring joy to wounded places, I wondered if in more recent times it is becoming ‘the land of …

Radical Joy

This year’s Global Earth Exchange found me in a beautiful place in West Virginia—Dolly Sods Wilderness Area—a place once deeply wounded, but now transformed by loving intentions and nature’s resilience. I’ve been returning there whenever …

remembering, honoring, celebrating our sacred connection to earth

I recently heard a talk on Parabola’s podcast on Renewal…these words brought me back to the morning of my rad joy creation in Sagaponack “small things with great love reach farther than we can see” …

Radical Joy for WHALES

Radical Joy…. the whales did not show up but I have no doubt they heard us!!!! Thank you to the musicians, poets, story tellers, sharers and creatives who shared their wonderful talents. Thank you to …

Annual Global Earth Exchange at Wyman Park

Autumn and I were joined by my friend Chrisa this year as we returned to Wyman Park in Baltimore, MD. This area is in the city and has a stream that has been plagued by …

Grandmother Oak at Habari House

Oak wilt has been devasting the oak trees that so many of us in the Texas Hill Country identify with and love. Our trees at High Hope are no exception, and now our most beloved …

Lone Loon on the Water

Mid-morning, one Community Member created a Loon out of branches and flowers.  She made her offering and left it floating on the pond. A few hours later, more people visited the waters, recognizing that the …

For the waters of Denmark

As in the past, the water well in my yard was the focus of a private event. I have become very saddened by the many findings of pesticides in the drinking water throughout Denmark, forcing …

Global Earth Exchange for a former perlite mine

Experience: this dispatch is being made via cell phone so will be short and sweet. I walked up to the mine in the heat of the afternoon from my campground. It would have been easier …

Chesapeake Bay Earth Exchange

I went to the site of our very first adventure with Trebbe on the Chesapeake Bay in the fall of 2009! (And the site of several Global Earth Exchanges since!) I hadn’t been to Savage …

I Vow to Develop Compassion

On the morning of June 22 thirteen people gathered at Portuguese Point, a fishing place near the Hugh Keenleyside Dam, on the Columbia River upstream from Castlegar, B.C.   Our first activity was for each …

Resilient Place…Heals Hearts

Although we were a small group, we had a very meaningful impact with our radical joy event.  We selected an area of the park that worked for all our members and cleaned up the garbage …

Journey to the Spring

Our Global Earth Exchange was held at Wekiwa Springs in Apopka, Florida.  We chose this site because Florida’s freshwater ecosystem is suffering increased wounding by the unnatural amount of nitrates and pollutants that enter the …

Daring to bear witness to Baseline Creep

The day of June 22nd dawned bright and fair after weeks of cold and dismal rain. A lovely day for sitting in the woods. A small group of people met in the woods around Barnard …