Enjoying nature is an important part of enjoying life, as we slow down to savor the moment and appreciate being alive. When we return from being at one with nature, we are energized to work to heal Mother Earth.

Human interdependence with our environment is an integral part of Buddhist economics. All activities by companies, governments, and people can be undertaken in a way that protects rather than exploits nature and our natural capital. We heal ourselves as we care for Mother Earth.
Over the next two weeks, my husband Richard and I, along with our greyhound Belvedere, are traveling to Taos. On the way we will visit Leslie, my friend since kindergarten, who lives near Phoenix, Arizona to be near her baby granddaughter. Leslie and I are saddened by how hot and dry Phoenix has become, even as people deny that our fossil fuel economy is causing grave harm to the region.

Buddhist economics shows us a path for transitioning to a low-carbon world, and we heal ourselves as we care for Mother Earth.

Then I am going to a Contemplative Environmental Workshop at the Lama Foundation for six days. I am looking forward to enjoying living off the grid in a lovely area, while I learn from other environmental activists who also practice mediation. We are off line, so I will write about my experience when I return.

As Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “Caring about the environment is not an obligation, but a matter of personal and collective happiness and survival. We will survive and thrive together with our Mother Earth, or we will not survive at all.” Love Letter to the Earth, p 82

“Ode to the Redwoods”
You care for each other and many creatures,
As humans gaze at your magnificent glory.
For centuries, you courageously stand tall through
storms, and fires, and drought.
You ask for nothing, until now.
You reach out to humans,
Beg them to stop their violence to Nature,
To go beyond the carbon economy, to stop war.
May we listen
And learn.
—Forest Nymph, August 2015