Author: Satya

I am hedged in by dying

Dear 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 Read More

Dear Earth, why pray?

This 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 Read More

Dear Earth, it’s started.

It’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 Read More

Dear Earth, I got fatter during lockdown.

The 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 Read More

Dear Earth, I surrender.

I 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 Read More

Dear Earth, I am ready.

Recently 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 Read More

Dear Earth, here is wet-dog joy.

Our 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 Read More

Dear Earth, maybe humans really are on their way out.

Our 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 Read More

Dear Earth, I’m a miracles-do-happen realist.

A 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 Read More

Dear Earth, what do you expect from me?

You 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 Read More

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