These are interesting times. Daily, the media reports new discoveries and technical marvels – and profoundly devastating changes around the world.
We’ve moved to town, and brought town to country: these days most people live in cities and suburbs, while the rhythms and skills of life rooted in Land recede into distant memory.
We’ve separated from the community of Nature that has supported us since time began. Nowadays, we drive where once we walked -- missing the opportunity to get to know the plants and animals that share our home.
We’ve become isolated from one another. Cars, planes, phones, TVs and computers promised to tie the world together, and they have: millions of people enjoy undreamed-of new opportunities.
At the same time, these technologies pollute air, water, and soil, and disconnect us from loved ones, neighbors, and local landscapes, as well as from ourselves.
And, frighteningly, as personal connection erodes, small un-noticed wrongs can grow larger: into gun violence, toxic waste dumps, child abuse. Negligence of so many kinds results from our disconnection!
This picture of estrangement is not true for everyone. I’ve had a different experience as, unlike many Americans, I’ve lived rooted in place all my life. In the 1930’s my grandmother found a home in the country – and we’re still here, taking care of things. Living here since before I was born, I know the Land and the Community deeply. They have taught me what many people have forgotten.
“Mawenawasigh” (that’s the indigenous name for the place where we live) is just an hour-and-a-half north of Manhattan, in central Dutchess County, New York. Here, like everywhere, over the past 60 years the local economy has become global, as world population has tripled to nearly 8 billion people. I’ve watched.
Corporate shopping malls with their huge selection of imported goods replace country stores stocking the basics, with a neighbor behind the counter.
The 350 dairy farms in Dutchess have dwindled to 35 since the 1980’s. Farm families dispersed north and south. Some prime agricultural land remains in use as specialty farms catering to elite markets; less-fertile former pastures now sprout houses and weeds.
Air and water quality rebounded following the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts in the early 1970's; people now swim in the Hudson River, but we still don’t eat the fish.
Populations have shifted. Fewer cows – more humans. Newcomers bring creative energy and increased load on natural systems and taxpayer dollars. Animals too: native deer, coyote, turkey, and bears have returned, joined by newly imported insect pests. Even plant life has changed, as introduced species follow hedgerows, paths, and other disturbed sites through field and forest. Spending most of their time in built environments, people don’t notice.
At the same time, there have been big changes in the minds and hearts of people everywhere. Brought together by technological innovation and new information systems, there has been tremendous cross-fertilization among deeply rooted traditions. The result: a time of powerful hybrid vigor in all human activity. Rapid change is occurring everywhere – for better or for worse? That depends on human choice.
As all of this has been happening, I've studied. I'm curious and thorough by nature, and I wanted to see deeply and understand well, because I want to take care of things, so I can have a good and Joyful life. I want to foster Beauty, because the world can be so beautiful, and why not?
To steward and pass on the gifts we receive feels like the right work of Humans. To take on our roles as Earth-keepers, we need to understand how things work, so that we can understand how to behave, so that things can go well for the Land and People we love – for our Home.
So, over the years, I've studied the worlds of Nature and of Human Nature. Agriculture, education, healing. History, and prehistory. Language, tradition and ancient ways. Spirituality. Construction, management, money. New thought and old thought. So many things, in school, and out in life: friendship, family, relationship, marriage, parenting, teaching, home ownership, land ownership, business, pleasure. And the plants -- always the plants. So much about the plants. The result is a whole system perspective, and a body of knowledge that supports whole system healing.
To share this, to gather strength in numbers, to go deeper and reach wider, to be sure this perspective isn't lost and to find those who will carry it -- that’s why now it’s time for Earth School to begin. I hope you will join us!
-- Santha Cooke