Creating Sanctuary - Playfully And Urgently

I went on an artist play date – a collage-making workshop.

This is what came together from the images and materials that called out to me:

The world puzzle was missing a few pieces and so it was impossible to put the world back together again.  I could not make the world whole again. The planetary fragments started tumbling down on my collage backdrop. 

Wake-up Call:  The planet is breaking apart from the pressures we have been placing on it.  Our world is convulsing in its anthropogenic over-heated state – burning forests and tundra, shriveling crops, whipping up monster waves, flooding and leveling our human-made structures with cyclones and tornadoes.   Already, the orcas are fighting back by attacking boats in the Atlantic Ocean. 

But here in these two boxes, the world is still whole:

Butterflies and flowers and green things in one, and ocean life in the other.  A lizard is looking on, from the edge of a primeval forest.  Lizard legends talked about such epic destruction in the past.  The lizard - and perhaps our reptilian brain - remembers and watches impassively: what are we going to do? 

A black burnt patch bridges the space between the butterfly box and remnants of dried birch bark. The world pieces are tumbling over the bark.  This is where trees once stood and life was thriving.

Wake-up Call:  Trees are our allies, they keep us alive, give us the oxygen we need to breathe and living space and nourishment for so many other creatures.  We have to protect the trees and forests – fiercely.  The trees need us now, for their survival, for our planet’s survival, for our human survival.

When I feel overwhelmed with the enormity of it all and my own perceived smallness and powerlessness, I turn to the little sanctuary I have created on my own property here in the Virginia Highlands.   We keep removing invasive plants and adding native plants that support this unique eco-system and its wildlife.  By keeping toxic chemicals out of the land, water, and air, we provide a nurturing environment for honey bees and wild pollinators. 

This much I can control along with supporting other people’s efforts to protect and rehabilitate wild spaces, and to live sustainably.

What do you do to keep a bit of sanctuary alive somewhere?