I’ve lived 3/4s of my life becoming or more aptly put — revealing my role as a human. Thirty two years ago a potted plant — Chinese Chives became my friend. I didn’t think much of my relationship with this plant or its meaning in my life until 2017 other than our mutual fondness for each other. In the 90s I placed the plant outside my living room window where the seeds of the plant created a small beautiful lawn of Chinese Chives. After 10 years I had to move from my mountain home. Chinese Chives didn’t like the lower altitude and died. In 2003 I moved to a new place and became friends with another plant already flourishing outside in the ground. Like my friend Chinese Chives this plant is also a bulb. This bulb with its tall orange flowers and me became friends and like Chinese Chives predicted the weather for upcoming winters.

In 2017 the fires ravaged parts of the valley and we had to evacuate. For the 2018 fire season I asked my friend about what was coming…

Humans are meant to communicate with plants (includes trees), animals and the elements of our world. When I write “our” let’s not be mistaken that this “our” belongs to us humans exclusively, rather this “our” is every biological and non-biological being on Earth together.

As soon as we learn to speak as children we become enslaved by the tech of spoken and later — written language that becomes synomous with ego. This often invisible tech tends to separate “modern” civilized peoples from other animals and beings of Earth. It is widely known by indigenous peoples that the role of humans on earth is to be a conscious expression of all biological and non-biological beings on the planet and live as stewards of Earth.

One way we can begin to change our thinking and cultivate a relationship with this planet is changing how we write and speak about Earth.

You wouldn’t refer to your friend as the Joe would you? To do this would make Joe into an object for misuse and manipulation. So stop referring to Earth as the earth. Also we capitalize our friends first name, you get the point.

Stop thinking about the future and begin to reshape our relationship and forge a partnership with Earthp now. There is no future and no past. The past exists as memories of the past in the present. The future exists as anticipations, expectations and assumptions that exist in the present.