Since 1970, the international community has commemorated every April 22 as Earth Day. But, in 2009, the United Nations Assembly established this date as the International Mother Earth Day, at the request of the Bolivian government.
Mother Earth Day, apart from motivating us to reduce our ecological footprint due to the damages we generate to the Earth system, should be an opportunity to think and feel the Earth as a living/sensible superorganism, with its own dignity. As the generator of Life in its different forms. That is, to think and feel the Earth as the origin, sustenance and destiny of Life, and act accordingly.
The basic daily observation of reality shows us that all beings living together on Earth are made of the same chemical elements that make up the Earth (only configured differently in our genomes). Moreover, all of us, when we complete the “life cycle” we return to the womb of the Earth, just like the trees, the rest of the animals, etc. In other words, we humans are nothing more than Earth with a degree of consciousness and freedom different from the rest of the other beings that also have an Earth identity.
This leads us to the realization that all beings that cohabit the Earth system and the pluriverse are brothers and sisters made of Earth and our destiny is the Earth. In this sense, we are all daughters and sons of the Earth. And here it makes sense to assume the Earth as Mother. The Earth originated us, conceived us (in her womb) for millions of years, sustains/feeds us, and welcomes us in her womb at the end of this “life cycle” to continue coexisting in another form of Life. In and with Mother Earth we become community. We become a whole in balance.
Our Mother Earth generated/created the appropriate ecosystemic, atmospheric, climatic conditions that made possible the birth of the various forms of Life that have lived billions of years and survived millions of catastrophes. Since its birth, Mother Earth has a history still ineffable for humans.
We do not know exactly when Mother Earth was born. But, conventionally, April 22nd of every year should be conceived and gratefully assumed as the “birthday of our Mother Earth”. This implies that every April 22nd we should think more about her birthday, and not only about the well-being of the guests at the party, which are us humans.
Celebrating Mother Earth’s birthday means thinking about and celebrating the difficult existence of Mother Earth herself, with her own identity, dignity, rights, her own stories. If we continue to remember April 22 with the sole purpose of raising awareness or seeking human welfare on the Planet, we continue on the self-destructive path of anthropocentrism.
Grandmothers say that if Mother Earth is in good health, we humans (who are a part of her children) will also be well. But, if we continue to seek the “development/ comfort” of humans by sacrificing the well-being of Mother Earth, our free will will will surely consummate our demise as a species.
(Ollantay Itzamay is a Quechua nomad and a son of Pachamama. He is a Human Rights and Mother Earth activist, lawyer and anthropologist. Courtesy: Telesur. Telesur is a Latin American television and news network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela.)
