I am hedged in by dying
On 6th April 2023 by SatyaDear Earth, I am hedged in by dying. Some of my loved ones are closer than others to the end. There are clocks in my head, counting down – how long do they have? And what about me? Sometimes the ticking is loud. You have your own clock, sweet Earth. Your biggest clock is set
Dear Earth, why pray?
On 24th July 2020 by SatyaThis is a photo from our last vigil for you, sweet Earth, that continued all day and all night for weeks until the virus forced us back into our homes. I can’t remember who just told a joke, but I love the smile playing on Sarah’s lips. We spent a lot of time doing precisely
Dear Earth, it’s started.
On 18th July 2020 by SatyaIt’s 5.30am and I’ve been awake for hours. My brain is fizzing like sherbet. After a crazy-busy week and with a full day ahead of me, I can’t find the soft blanket of sleep. Rebellion is coming. In six weeks we will be out on the streets again – grandfathers, scientists, ex-policemen, pilots, people of
Dear Earth, I got fatter during lockdown.
On 17th July 2020 by SatyaThe kind of fatter than necessitates new trousers. As usual, this has set off vicious internal arguments. My managing parts resolve to give up sugar as soon as I’m back from holiday. My bingeing parts make me eat three cakes on the journey home whilst I still can. My critical parts yell that I’m weak-willed
Dear Earth, I surrender.
On 15th July 2020 by SatyaI surrender to not knowing how much longer you will support the human race before shrugging us off. I surrender to not being your sole heroic saviour. I surrender to my ordinary life with all its caramel brownies and sore backs, warm bright words from friends and what’s-the-point dragging afternoons. I surrender to the small
Dear Earth, I am ready.
On 3rd July 2020 by SatyaRecently I had a conversation with a man who was used to holding power. He’d worked hard all his life, managing huge sections of the civil service and moving in high political circles. He said that he believed in democracy, and that this was the only way to tackle the climate crisis. His version of
Dear Earth, here is wet-dog joy.
On 1st July 2020 by SatyaOur seven dogs hadn’t met before. As we swapped polite human pleasantries they sniffed each other’s bums and worked out how they might play together. Half-way through our walk this oasis of water presented itself and they all bounded in, delighted. Whenever I go online, I encounter thorns. They prick me with news of environmental
Dear Earth, maybe humans really are on their way out.
On 25th June 2020 by SatyaOur government isn’t on track to meet their own 2050 carbon targets, which are woefully inadequate to begin with. The Arctic is boiling. The rainforests are being razed. Greed, hate and delusion swirl in us all. More and more, I’m including the possibility that we have entered a terminal phase of our life-span. That it
Dear Earth, I’m a miracles-do-happen realist.
On 18th June 2020 by SatyaA few weeks ago my Buddhist teacher said that, in relation to what will happen as we come out of lock down, he’s a happy pessimist. He believes that, broadly, polluters will spring back to trashing you, shoppers will slide back into unnecessary excess, and those few white men who hold the lion’s share of
Dear Earth, what do you expect from me?
On 12th June 2020 by SatyaYou don’t expect the beans outside my window to shoot their winding, dividing tendrils like Jack’s beanstalk across the vegetable patch, producing pomegranates, artichokes, bouquets of exotic flowers. You would be happy if they slowly crawl up their bamboo poles and make beautiful runner beans. You don’t expect this little mouse to be peacemaker between