The craziest thing about the holidays...

The holiday season is such a mixed bag for me. Do you feel that, too?

I love slowing down and syncing with the quiet, inward energy of the land. I love gathering with family and friends for food, stories, games, and laughs.

And at the same time, my heart aches for Mama Earth as I witness Americans consuming more in a few weeks than some countries do in an entire year. Gandhi’s words swirl in my mind like a desperate prayer: “May we live simply so that
others may simply live.”

Every bright, shiny new gift — the phones, the gadgets, the toys, the clothes — is made from materials taken directly from Mama Earth. Minerals stripped from mountains. Water diverted from rivers. Oil drilled from ancient seabeds. Trees cut from forests.

Leaving behind devastation where cherished wild places and wildlife once flourished.

And the craziest thing?

Most of us don’t even want the gifts we’re given. Research shows that a large percentage of them end up in landfills within a year. Forests, mountains, wetlands, deserts — the homes of our beloved owls, foxes, and butterflies — turned into garbage in record time.

And for what? Mostly to line the pockets of a billionaire class whose hunger for power and profit seems to have no limits. Grrrrrrrrr.

This is where we come in.

As nature-loving women, we cannot keep feeding this machine. We are being called — urgently — to protect what is sacred and life-giving. To choose a different way forward even when it’s scary or uncomfortable.

Here’s a potent truth: Women control the vast majority of consumer spending in this country. This means we hold immense power.

And we can wield this power with love…for Mama Earth, for our human and more-than-human families, for future generations of all species.

I’m inviting your boldness and your love this holiday season — to make it one that gives to Life rather than takes from it. Here are some ideas…

• Talk openly with family and friends about opting out of obligatory gift exchanges.
• Offer acts of service instead of things.
• Repair, mend, or share something someone needs.
• Buy used — take advantage of our vibrant secondhand economy: thrift stores, consignment shops, “Buy Nothing” groups, stuff swaps.
• If you must buy new, buy less and buy from small, values-aligned businesses rather than giant corporations (Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, Target) that profit by causing so much harm and injustice.
• On an energetic level… dream, dance, sing, pray, paint a vision of a world in which all Life is honored and respected.

It is our joy and our responsibility to put our love into action — to shine our lights brightly in service of the world we want to live in, and the world we will leave for those who come after.

If not now, when?
If not us, who?