Save the Trees! International Forest Day

Forests. Trees. Today is International Forest Day, coming so perfectly after International Day of Happiness because forests bring us such joy of deep divine connection. (they also bring, of course, the joy of oxygen to breath!) Some of my most precious moments have been feeling the pulse of a tree beneath the pulse of my own body, knowing we are One, losing myself in the dirt beneath the redwoods as I melt into Creation. These are moments not only of exquisite joy but they are also moments of deep, divine union, oneness with all of Creation and therefore with the divine Creator, whatever name we may use….

Forests also of course, are life — providing us with oxygen, water, coolness and extraordinary biodiversity. Tragically, however they are being cut down at terrifying rates (about 10 million hectares a year, the Amazon at about an acre a second!) for pretty much nothing more than our desire to eat hamburgers and a growing trend of consumerism and blind “development.” The forests of much of Indonesia (home to amazing orangutans along with so many other species) are being bulldozed for palm oil, which far too many of our products are made of.
There are problems in this world that are not solveable at an individual level but deforestation is not one of them. International Forest Day is such a perfect opportunity to LOVE trees, to LOVE dirt, to LOVE all the amazing species that exist in the forests and to LOVE our future which requires us to act differently today. Let us eat, dress and shop consciously, gently, tenderly and simply, ensuring that we are assets to this planet. We can do it. We must simply want to. We must simply choose to.