In honor of Earth Day.
When I was sixteen I visited the Grand Canyon with my dad. We rode mules halfway to the bottom and back up but the breathtaking part happened on the edge, looking out at the terrific beauty in nature.
My dad told me, as we took it in, that the earth endures. That all our campaigns to save the planet are really just to save ourselves. When humanity is burned out, the earth will go on.
In the show Voltron: Legendary Defender our young heroes venture to a new planet, the Balmerea, to save a people oppressed by the evil Galra empire. As they wage battle, they have to remember that this planet is different: The Balmera is alive and sentient and it is dying from the abusive mining practices of the Galra.
At the end of the battle, Voltron is victorious but the Balmera is still dying. It’s too late. Only does a powerful healing ritual from the Princess Allura, where she gives lifeforce to the planet, finally restore the Balmera’s health.
I juxtapose this truth of our earth’s endurance against the personified Balmera. Does our earth love us? Even as we destroy ourselves upon its skin? Does it feel the pain when we scar it with our fires and waste and drills? Will it miss us when we’re gone? Will it memorize the songs we sing and mourn our footprints fading in the sand?
I know I can be kinder to the earth. I don’t live a wholly sustainable life. I minimize my impact, but then turn all the lights on when I get home. I have reusable straws but eat fast food. I am consciousness but am I purposeful?
I think again about what my dad said: the earth will endure us. She will. But is that our legacy: to be something that needs to be endured?
We can do better than that. I can do better.
With Love,
Natalie