Read or listen to any summary of current events and it’s not hard to discern that our culture and nature are unraveling at a great rate. Pick any longstanding institution from government, to education, to the performing arts, to medicine and you’ll find their fundamental principles not just being questioned but being attacked. The same is true for many aspects of nature, but the Earth is fighting back. For example, just the other day an unprecedented and violent storm flattened all the trees on three islands on the south arm of Lake Opeongo in my beloved Algonquin Park. Thankfully no one was hurt, but as the impacts of these ‘event’s sink our collective stress levels are skyrocketing. It’s hard not to not either feel helpless or descend into despair. There is a different path that can provide not just a renewed sense of purpose but also hope that there is light on the other side of this darkness. It is called the Earth Caretaker Way.
Committing to Earth Caretaking Improves Wellbeing
My commitment to the Earth Caretaker Way has made me realize that my daily living in service to helping heal the Earth is making a huge difference to both my personal well-being and my ability to make a collective difference in the world. My growing awareness of the interconnectedness of all things and how I personally am helping restore the health and balance of my own immediate environment is giving the Earth time to breathe, regenerate and repair herself. So, what does this Earth Caretaking Journey of personal education, inspiration and preservation look like?
“Doing Your Dirt Time”- The Roots For Building a Personal Relationship with Nature
Like all such journeys, this one begins with the idea of building a personal relationship with nature physically, emotionally and spiritually. It involves ‘Doing One’s Dirt Time’ as Tim Corcoran says, who is the founder of Headwaters Outdoors School near Mt. Shasta, California and co-author of the recently published guide to earth caretaking called The Earth Caretaker Way – Walk Backward into the Future and Remember What We Already Know. In my case first I had to start by slowing down and making a pilgrimage to my favourite outdoor ‘sit spot’ amongst the pine trees. By then activating all of my senses I was able to connect in a mindful way with all the plants, birds, trees, animals and insects all around me and became aware of their interconnectedness and their energy fields. In so doing. I was at times able to ask for help and or healing and at other times just play, explore and enjoy the beauty that the Earth around me had to offer.
Six Branches Show the Way to a New Sense of Calm
From these roots, I have found that there are six branches, like those on a giant original growth oak tree that any individual can explore including:
- Creating earth friendly daily habits and choices
- Designing a wildlife sanctuary in your yard or balcony
- Appreciating Earth’s mystery and magical moments
- Cultivating kindness and gratitude without judgement
- Sharing your Earth wisdom and teaching others
- Helping build a movement
1. Creating Earth Friendly Daily Habits and Choices
Creating daily habits and choices at a minimum involves a commit to more sustainable product purchases and reduction in the amount of energy that are used. It can involve organizing and/or participating in clean-up days in your community r adding living plants and flowers to your work environment. Research has shown the value to well-being and health of working in an environment full of plant life. My current obsession in this area is in trying to eliminate most if not all plastic in my life, which is a major challenge.
2. Designing a Wildlife Sanctuary in Your Yard or on Your Balcony
As Douglas Tallamy of Homegrown National Park Fame wrote in his book Nature’s Best Hope “if each American landowner made it a goal to convert half of their lawn into a productive ecosystem and diverse native plant community, more than 20 million acres could collectively be restored to natural habitats. That’s an area bigger than the combined areas of the nation’s 12 most well-known parks.” These roof top, balcony, community and home gardens with bird feeders and water features are not just pretty, but they also ‘support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water, and provide respite for migrating birds. What’s there not to like about this plan! My own backyard sanctuary includes 4 oak trees that I freed from an ivy hedge many years ago that have grown to over 20 feet tall. I have multiple bird feeders and flower gardens, two vegetable gardens, a grape arbor. and a number of fruit trees including peach, cherry, apricot, apple and now a fig tree and I haven’t yet converted all of my lawn to a native species garden but am working on it. The amount of wildlife that I see on a daily basis is amazing.
3. Appreciating Earth’s Mystery and Magic Moments
Appreciating Earth’s mystery and magical moments mostly involves “proactively highlight and acknowledge special moments of awareness and mindfulness as sacred by letting your emotions engage with the experience and staying with it as long as possible”. This process can be as simple as greeting and ending each day with a ritual or ceremony of some sort, hugging or climbing a tree, talking to your plants/flowers or creating a nature altar for your living room. It could also include a spiritual ritual of committing to always leaving places better than when you found them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a park bench, a hiking trail or a street corner.
4. Cultivating Kindness and Gratitude with Minimal Judgement
In the Earth Caretaker Way, living in gratitude is important personal medicine because it is an expression of love. Love and kindness for the earth, love and kindness for every being living on it and love and kindness for each other. The message here is that whatever you love, love it deeply. Also important is to let go of being judgmental, which for most of us is a life’s work as is honouring commitment. As Goethe once wrote ‘Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. …the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too and all sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.”
5. Sharing Your Earth Wisdom and Teaching Others
In the days before the internet, storytelling was a vital form of communication and helped bind people together in communities both large and small. Stories fill our hearts, make us laugh, fill us with awe and are great entertainment especially stories about experiences in nature. Everyone has something important to share, especially elders and it is especially important to share earth wisdom and teach others, especially if you can do so through nature. Anyone can be a mentor to teaches skills or create a sense of wonder about the world even if it is just ‘spur of the moment’ sharing. Such sharing, especially for children can have a powerful impact and stay with that child or person for a lifetime and become a part of their personal medicine.
6. Helping Build a Movement
Last, but not least is the role that all of us can play in helping build a movement that honours the Earth. Depending on your means one can buy a copy of The Earth Caretaker Way, donate to environmental groups in your area or volunteer at local wildlife rescues or animal shelters, or participate in local community clean ups or invasive species removal. If you have extensive resources you could consider buying and preserving land outright.
In summary,building a life of service to the Earth and becoming an Earth Caretaker isn’t difficult, nor is it terribly time consuming. As I said at the beginning, it all starts with establishing your own personal relationship with nature at the physical, emotional and spiritual level and grokking the interconnectedness of all things. It involves giving ‘Voice and Action’ to the environmental needs of our planet whilst at the same time enjoying the healing qualities that this beautiful world has to offer. The benefits are incredible. Not only does being an Earth Caretaker reduce stress, but I have also found a dramatic improvement in my physical, emotional and spiritual moods and wellbeing. But more importantly is my growing awareness of the awe and value in being part of a greater purpose-driven cause.
If you’d like to learn more about how Earth Caretaker Way can be incorporated into your employee wellness programs or add Earth Caretaker activities to your next team offsite or retreat please reach out togayeclemson@icloud.com. For those interested in journaling check out my new Earth Caretaker Way Expert Writing Trails that will soon be available on Lifewrite.ai For a small subscription fee, each Expert Writing Trail affords the writer an opportunity, using AI-generated interactive and reflective prompts, to explore their thoughts and feelings about various aspects of the Earth Caretaker Way including:
- Awakening the Earth Caretaker Within: A Call to Purpose
- Rewild Your Heart: Building a Personal Relationship with Nature
- Mastering Wilderness Skills: Building Self-Reliance and Overcoming Fear
- Opening Your Heart to the Mystery and Magic of the Earth
- Daily Living in Service to Healing the Earth
This article is originally published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/daily-living-service-healing-earth-caretaker-way-gaye-clemson-lroec on 6/27/2025, and is re-published here with the author’s express permission.
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