ecospirit

I tried this exercise several years back with a high school group in a workshop I led at FGC, and it was beyond the comfort zone of several of the kids. This was true of one or two of these 40-odd SAYFers, but for most of them and the adults who mingled with them, embracing both the gifts and pain of being alive on Earth now was soul-satisfying. Some of you are familiar with the exercise, but for those who are not, it moves from frenetic, disconnected hurrying past each other during a busy lunch hour on city streets to slowing down and noticing the faces of those around you, to "moving like kelp in the sea," gently brushing others as you lazily follow the current. As the exercise progresses, the participants stop several times in pairs, contemplating the wonders of human evolution as well as the terrors of modern civilization in a militarized, industrial growth economy. All of this is conducted in silence. There were a few initial giggles, but our children and grandchildren soon settled into Meeting for Milling.

Listening to Joanna's lyrical recital of evolutionary history, one partner examines another's hand, eyes closed. "If you were anywhere in outer space, in intergalactic reaches, and you were to grasp that, you would know that you were home. It is only made here." In the final segment, holding the hand of one's partner, looking them in the eye, participants accept the hazards of premature death, due to the riot of toxins, the odds of nuclear attack, and the probability of rapid climate change. "Don't look away! We can face this together." The exercise closes with an affirmation that this partner "may play a decisive role in the healing of our world, that they are in the right place, at the right moment, with the right gifts and motivation." Like Greta Thunberg, I added.

Knowing that this was all a bit much for the group I led at FGC, I had decided that the SAYFers, many of whom have had years of retreats emphasizing non-judgmental bonding and Quaker process (they have clerks and meetings for business and clearnesses, all conducted by the youth), would be primed for such an exercise. And I was right, based upon the tone of the exercise and the deep discussion afterwards (which went places I never imagined, led by a 12-year old girl who may well be the next Greta Thunberg). I received several affirmations of the power of this experience, and some of the teens said they wanted more. One girl said it was "transformational."

The next morning, I walked through the Arthur Morgan campus on my way to Meeting just as the SAYF group began the same journey. Halfway there, the young clerk stopped the chattery group. They circled in silence, settled, and we walked the rest of the way to Meeting in silence. I scrambled to keep just behind that 12-year old girl, who was taking the lead, without knowing the turns in the maze of paths which connect us in Celo Community. We had a spirited session of hymn singing, followed by a worship into which the youth centered rapidly. They knew what to do, and unlike many of the adults hustling in late and distracted, they had walked in quiet preparation through the woods, "like a family," as one the SAYFers put it.

After Meeting settled, our clerk shared the story of the ancestors of the Southern mountain folk. These folks kept a fire in the hearth at all times, and when they traveled, carried an ember with them. Addressing the SAYFers, he counseled them to do the same, as they carried their concerns out into the world. We had built the hearth fire high the day before, and there were coals aplenty for distribution.

As I left meeting potluck, I encountered one of Celo's own SAYFers. Her mother had just asked me for the opportunity to have an experience like the Milling. We discussed having an intergenerational Saturday workshop in the near future. Knowing that this mother and daughter had been at odds in the recent past, I told the girl of her mother's wish. She looked thoughtful a moment, then smiled and said, "Sounds like a good idea." A new generation is rising to lead the climate rebellion, and we can and must support them.

Yesterday, local high school students helped load my truck with horse manure from the Appalachian Therapeutic Riding Center for use in our community garden in Celo Community (six families). Banter among the boys, showing off for the lone girl present, was broadly horsey. One boy sported a full Confederate flag as his shirt. Another boy wanted to know what I thought about chewing tobacco. I said it was bad, and the girl agreed. Then someone inevitably brought up politics. The boy who likes to chew said, "I like Trump because he's going to bring the Bible into the schools." I wanted my truck filled with manure, so I didn't take the bait.

A climate strike action is called for noon today in Washington. I know teachers at Mountain Heritage, and ever since Greta Thunberg started her school climate strikes, I have written those teachers to be aware of the movement, and to support their students when the time came. That time has not come to Yancey County, NC, which remains Bible Belt, despite inroads by the liberal, citified retirees who are steadily moving in. Knowing that, none of these teachers has responded, though I'm sure we could talk off the record, given the chance.

This is a youth movement. I'm a Boomer, a worn-down climate warrior who resigned a tenured position to fight the climate wars almost twenty years ago. In that time, carbon emissions have increased hugely, with no legislation having been passed limiting/taxing them, even though many businesses are poised to change their strategy, given the right political leadership. But straight-talking Greta will have none of either. According to her, politicians have done virtually nothing, and are not be trusted. Companies will change, but only if they can continue to make money, which is more important to business interests than the survival of their children and grandchildren, let alone the flourishing of the non-human world.

It may be too late, but the youth of the world - in Sweden, the UK, parts of Europe, and Australia - have awakened to their dire plight. Seeing that education for "good jobs" or being an "informed citizens" is useless in the face of failed ecosystems, economies, and civil institutions, they are taking to the streets. Today is the first big strike date in the US, with a big action scheduled in DC, contemporaneous with gatherings of mostly high school aged youth in many cities, including nearby Asheville. We Boomers, along with a life-web on heightened alert, are acutely interested in how this one goes. And the next, and the next, growing in strength until what business and government do will be moot. That is Greta's vision, and I pray she is right. Even if it's too late, to have a display of love for humanity and the Earth which cradles us, a display of dignity and idealism in the face of widespread sordid politics, would feel like vindication of "God's" creation of a creature who might mirror "Him." Adjusted, to be sure, for immense grief and irony.

Postscript: One and a half million schoolkids worldwide left school for some "home schooling," street-learning style on Friday.  This was the biggest climate action thusfar.  Greta has her own analysis of the action and what it will take to make a difference: "we need a whole new way of thinking."  She emphasizes that we will not be able to solve the climate crisis by working within a capitalist system as currently defined (sorry, Al Gore).  She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.