As a child, I got a good look at the Milky Way for the first time when our family moved to Oregon. In the dark skies above our ranch, the stars and clusters seemed very close. It felt like the earth was part of infinity. Later, when I was living in the Midwest, I remember walking through a cornfield on a very hot, humid, and still evening. The corn was growing so fast that I could hear it crackling. I stopped and listened, surrounded by the fact
of growth.
I’m not alone in having such experiences. There are poems, essays, paintings, and photographs from around the world and through time, that express mankind’s love of our planet earth.
Recent headlines, however, show earth and its inhabitants having considerable trouble: violent storms, wildfires, droughts, floods, and extreme heat. Politicians and scientists have been arguing about what to do about it or even what to call it. But there is a growing realization that our relationship to the earth needs to be healed.
