I came across the Jane Goodall quote “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” I feel like it is a beautiful summary of the days we are experiencing with our current global pandemic as well as our human effects on the planet. All so connected. Everything is connected.

As I started looking through my photographs from the past I was moved by how so many of them rely on the magic of mother earth. Without her kiss of sunlight dancing in my children’s hair, the deep blues of ocean, the god rays reaching through her fluffy clouds, the vivid pinks of her showing off sunsets and the take that awe inspiring fireworks of her west coast skies. What would my images be without her gust of wind filling up a dress, or a dark storm brewing in the background. Without the blanket of fog weaving through the trees and the plump cherry blossoms dangling from the branches. They would loose so much. This place, this one precious and miraculous earth. Don’t we owe her this long pause, can’t we give her this break. When the walls are lifted, when the chains and rules are opened up… will we charge back into the same destruction or will our pause be long enough for real change and creativity into a more sustainable future for us all.

Dear Earth, thank you for your sacrifices and gifts. Power and grace. Magic and lessons. I hope we can repay you.

We are not gifted the earth from our ancestors, we are borrowing it from our children.

Be gentle with each other, tread lightly on the earth.