Dear Earth, I get so angry at climate deniers.

I’m not usually an angry person. I can live and let live. And, when people tell me that the facts of global heating or the dying coral are confected conspiracy, darling Earth, I get so angry that I don’t know what to do about it.

I’m wondering what’s going on for me. I get that, from where they’re standing, what they believe not only makes complete sense but is necessary for their worldview to remain intact. I get that, if they are 99% certain of their rightness, then there is no point in spending time in debate – especially online. I get that there is a very small part of me that begins to wonder, ‘have I got this all terribly wrong?’. I get that a large part of my identity is now invested in being an earth protector and I feel they are accusing me of stupidity.

None of this explains my anger. The anger is the anger of a mother bear protecting her cubs.

Yes, that’s it. I see them as threatening you, vulnerable Earth. Of threatening the slow progress we are making in getting the facts out through a biased media. Of threatening the weight of public opinion necessary to effect huge systemic change. Of threatening you, as if they were themselves going into your Amazon, slashing and burning. As if they themselves were flooding your rivers with poison or sucking all richness from your soil.

‘They’. ‘Them’. The comforts of being on the ‘right’ side. Of being the goody, and knowing who the baddies are.

Of course, there is no ‘them’. There is just us. Some of us are lost in preoccupation with survival, and we shouldn’t rely on them to help us – how can they? Some of us are convinced that this emergency is a conspiracy, and we shouldn’t rely on them to help us – why would they?

Some of us were born lucky, dear Earth, and we can see that you urgently need our help. Once we see this, it is our duty (our grievous burden, our privilege, our joy) to do what we can.

I can bow to my fierce anger when it arises, and try to protect others from the fire of it, whilst transmuting as much of it as I can into right action.

I can bow to the climate deniers. I can respect that their opinions have integrity for them, from where they’re standing, and utterly disagree with them – without needing them to change their minds. I can remember that they love and are loved.

I can bow to you, dear Earth. My love for you is fierce. I think you love me like this too – I think your love is big enough for us all.

Satya <3