Paying Rent on the Planet

Earth Day 2023

Love is the first law, and I try to keep it. It’s meant facing my demons down to the bone and giving myself a chance at redemption. On good days, I’ve been able to dream of a world where no one is hungry and children are safe and the future is full of promise. I’ve been able to sing to the sun and forgo the indulgence of too much and too many. But not always. I fear my rent to the planet is in arrears, the grace period over. Starvation is going global and children are dying in cease fires and the future is a Tik Tok explosion.

Back to the rent I owe. Is it enough to clear the bookshelves and plant the spinach and feed the birds and cancel the writing retreat I had scheduled for myself in southern Oregon for late April because all of a sudden it’s a frivolous venture, so singular in its purpose that it leaves me ashamed of myself for wanting it?

What does it mean to pay rent to the planet that gives me all that I need to live?