Earth Day 2021
Earthday 2021 – Being the Cure
A Shamanic Perspective
By Rebekah Shaman
Earthday has been celebrated on April 22nd, every year since 1970. It was a movement set up to inspire, challenge ideas, ignite passion and motivate people into action on climate change. It gave a voice to the awakening consciousness at that time, and was conceived to channel human energy into environmental issues, and forge a healthier relationship to our planet.
But fifty-one years later, we are in an even worse environmental crisis. Ignoring the science, academics, and the environmentalists, we have not only continued with our over exploitation of the earth’s resources for financial gain, there is still no real political change. Our global leadership remain in denial of what is happening on Planet Earth, despite the irrefutable signs.
Stratospheric ozone depletion, degraded air quality, degraded water quality, land contamination, deforestation, soil erosion, habitat loss, plastic waste and microplastic debris, mercury poisoning, extreme weather patterns, and now most worrying a rise of methane in the atmosphere, to name but a few challenges we are facing. All of this has led us into what is now being termed the ‘sixth mass extinction’, with over 150 species of animals and plants becoming extinct every day, according to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
On Earthday’s website it urges us to get involved by planting billions of trees, divesting from fossil fuels, making cities 100% renewable, educating the young, finally focusing on the importance of regenerative agriculture, and building on the Paris Climate Talks momentum.
An Old Paradigm
Yes, they are all solutions, but it is the politics and economics that are fueling our economy and they are still stuck in an old paradigm. That is why, despite signing into law that the UK government will reach Carbon Net Zero by 2050, their policies show it’s still business as usual. Unsurprisingly, there seems to be no real environmental leadership by any of the parties.
Since my MSc in Development Studies (majoring in Sustainable Development), in 1999, I have seen little political progress in the sustainability debate. It is the same old rhetoric; planting trees to offset carbon dioxide, electric cars and educating the young. But these solutions are not tackling a much bigger problem.
The biggest challenge we face as a species, is that our current capitalist system DOES NOT recognise the rights of Mother Earth, Nature, or any living thing, so the polluters don’t have to pay for their damage.
I was a part of the corporate political lobbying delegation, for the World Travel and Tourism Council, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, (WSSD), in South Africa, in 2002. I saw first-hand that there was no real representative for Nature. After 9/11/2001, the environment was no longer on the political agenda. Safety, security, survelleince and war dominated our attention.
During the WSSD, it became obvious to me that the people making these global decisions were benefiting from this ego-driven individualistic capitalist system, and addicted to the power and wealth they were obtaining. There was a whole area of grassroots activists, doing amazing things, but no one was talking about the environment in the halls of power.
For the last twenty years, as a grassroots activist, I have watched the global COP meetings with growing dismay. It’s the same lies and rhetoric, year after year with no real will to change. It culminated in 2016, with the signing of the legally binding international treaty on climate change, adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21, in Paris. But I knew deep down that the signing of this climate change treaty would make no difference,
Despite the horrific reality it is still business as usual, and our governments seem helpless to take action.
The Reality
In 2020 there was a huge unexplained rise in methane emissions, the largest annual increase since measurements began in 1983, and despite the economic shutdowns, CO2 is still at record levels. Last year there was also a 17% increase in deforestation of the Amazon, the size of El Salvador, and the third highest annual total, in the last two decades.
To top it off China has opened up enough coal mines to offset all the ones that were closed globally, and national governments are still not taking this situation seriously. A new study by Oxford University shows that only 18% of Covid-19 recovery spending globally has gone to emissions reduction, and that most countries no longer have the budget to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.
Without an Internationally recognised law of Ecocide, defined as ‘the destruction of a natural environment, or very great damage to it’, the perpetrators of environmental destruction are not liable for prosecution, arrest and imprisonment, which means that at present there is no political will to change our collective behaviour.
A Beautiful Dream
In comparison, there is a huge and growing global environmental movement, and climate awareness is growing, thanks to activists like Greta Thunberg, who seems to have single-handedly put the environment crisis at the top of the political agenda, and Vandana Shiva, to name two that inspire me, and the environmental organisations that have galvanised the grassroots to care.
However, we can no longer afford to wait for billions of trees to save us, or for those in power to make real changes to our political and economic ideology. If we want to see substantial, fast, long-lasting and powerful change, each one of us has to take personal responsibility for our actions and rip out the rotten root that is festering within. And that rotten root is our individualistic value system. Without a cultural shift in mindset, we are blinded by meaningless rhetoric.
Value System Reset
In December 2002, I was trekking in Nepal, after an intense eight-day silent meditation retreat, integrating and reflecting on my experiences in the corporate world, and the WSSD. As I was listening to Cold Play’s new album, a song came on, and it felt as if Chris Martin was speaking to me personally: “The lights go out and I can’t be saved, tides that I try to swim against have brought me down upon my knees. Oh, I beg, I beg and plead. Come out upon my seas, cursed missed opportunities. Am I part of the cure, or am I part of the disease…?”
And on that mountain, looking upon the snow-capped mountains of the ancient Himalayas, during that mystical experience, I had a revelation. I could no longer be part of the dis-ease of individualism that had infected me so deeply. I realised that this capitalist system no longer fitted or reflected my values, as a human.
Capitalism and the system’s need for perpetual growth, is in direct opposition to the law of nature, that clearly has a cycle of birth, growth, death. Instead, we are driven, or I prefer to call it hypnotised, to continously consume more, despite the erosion of our habitat and mental states. We are so addicted to our right to be individual, we have forgotten our sacred connection to the earth.
If we want to see real change, we must rip out this rotten root of individualism, separation consciousness and consumerism that is being fuelled by the current system, and radically change our value systems.
What I learnt on that mountain is that all I needed to do to be part of the cure, was to realise I was one with the planet, and choose differently.
Part of the Cure
I couldn’t change what was happening politically, but I could make my own value system reset, and change my own little slice of the world. So I left the corporate world in February 2003, and found my tribe that were having the same value system resert,. I started living shamanically, and more in tune with nature. I learnt how to trust my intuition, use the cosmos for my guidance, and follow my heart.
When we start living shamanically, we naturally start being the cure because we understand we are a part of nature, not apart from it. Our behaviour automatically and effortlessly changes, as we become aware that all living things are interconnected. We realise the importance of the preservation of life on earth, and how each species is contributing to a healthy and sustainable ecosystem.
It is accepting that everything on this planet feeds off another living thing in order to maintain and sustain life. Every bee that pollinates a flower, every animal, bird and reptile is an essential part of our incredibly intricate web of life. When we lose a species of animal, plant, tree or flower to extinction, we lose a vital link in our biological chain, the whole eco-system is affected.
Shift in Consciousness
In order for us to come out of this mess, and leave a healthy planet for future generations, we need to heal the deep separation and isolation we are feeling to our planet and all living beings that share it with us. We must turn to the teachings and wisdoms of our tribal and indigenous communities to show us the way, who understand the importance of living as a part of nature, and not apart from it.
We are the most conscious, and self-aware mammals on earth, and our role is to maintain the healthy balance of this eco-system for all living things, in order to preserve and sustain life for future generations. We have been given this task because only humans have the unique ability to consciously choose each action they take, and can understand and take responsibility for the consequences of each action.
As we face possible extinction, our environmental crisis is creating a new awareness. It is sparking an internal process within each one of us, and giving us the opportunity to evolve to a different state of consciousness. It is giving us the choice to shift from individualism to unity consciousness, and adopt a new value system that encompasses all living things.
Unique Ability to Love
Humans also have the unique ability to consciously love themselves and others. All other living things are living from an instinctual awareness. Humans have an exclusive love vibration that is unconditional and non-judgemental, enabling us to act with self-awareness, love and compassion.
When we put social and environmental values first, and unconditionally love, honour, and respect ourselves, mother earth and all living things, we are essentially changing the way we interact with the ecosystem of our planet, and automatically start being part of the cure.
At the Crossroads
Humanity is at the crossroads and we each have the choice, whether to change, or remain in the current value system. We can either shift into a ‘higher’ state of awareness that brings us into unity consciousness, and reconnects us back to nature and the ancient ways. Or accept the current narrative, and see our rights and liberties being taken away bit by bit until we are slaves to a corporatised system.
We can no longer wait for our politicians to change, or ignore the deep inner pain of separation we are feeling. There is no escaping the situation on Planet Earth. Climate change is affecting all of us, regardless of race, wealth, colour, or creed, and levels the playing field, so we are all equals.
On this Earthday take some time out to reconnect to your planet and all the living things that share it with us. Ignite your drive to be the change, realise you have a choice, make a value system reset and become part of the cure this Planet so desperately needs.
Please do join me for a very special Earthday ceremony where together we will send our collective healing and gratitude to Mother earth, humanity, and all living things that share our beautiful (and only) Planet with us. Hear what messages she has for you, and what you can do to inspire change.
