A Love of Nature:

Embrace Environmental Stewardship

Climate change tops virtually all international agendas at this time. Global warming, droughts, wildfires, floods, rising sea levels, the loss of natural habitats — the issues are so pressing, we can easily feel overwhelmed by it all.

In the August 2022 Science of Mind magazine, writer Diana Ensign advises us to embrace our philosophy and the teachings of Ernest Holmes as we look for a balance that keeps us from falling into despair. Holmes’ teachings, she writes, can “guide us gently forward on our Earthly journey with renewed hope, unbounded courage and ceaseless determination.”

Lest we lose hope, Ensign reminds us we can move in healthier directions by making better choices. She suggests we begin by asking: “What do we love? What do we feel the most passion toward? What actions can we take within our personal sphere of influence?”

And more good news: We don’t have to do this work alone. We can find many environmental nonprofit organizations focused on environmental stewardship through advocacy, education and reform. We can start locally, with groups in our own neighborhoods that focus on concerns right at home.

As Holmes said, “The law of love heals and makes whole.” Ensign adds, "When we practice caring for nature, we will be motivated by abundant love to do our part to nourish, protect and revere the everyday wonders of our precious Earth home.”

Create a Climate Action Plan

While cities across the United States and countries across the globe create official climate action plans to address larger needs, each of us, too, can create a plan to address climate change. Whether as individuals, families or neighborhoods, we can make decisions based on sound scientific evidence as to how we mitigate our impacts on our climate.

Citizen Lab suggests a three-pronged approach to creating a climate action plan that can work for all kinds of groups or can be adapted to an individual or family. Before beginning, of course, comes educating yourself about your community’s needs and culture.

The three core approaches Citizen Lab recommends are these:

1. Outreach: Community engagement offers a way to educate your family, friends and neighbors about how climate change directly affects their lives. Neighborhood associations, spiritual centers and local schools offer opportunities to convene the conversation.
2. Consultation: Emphasizing a data-driven approach, Citizen Lab offers an online engagement platform with tools to help present proposed environmental policies and program.
3. Deliberation: Harnessing the power of collective voices improves your opportunities for success. Engaged buy-in is essential to successfully creating a climate action plan.

Intrigued? Learn more about crafting a climate action plan and find tools to guide you at https://www.citizenlab.co/blog/environment-sustainability/how-to-create-climate-action-plans-through-community-engagement/.

Abundance

By Ernest Holmes

Everywhere we look, we see that nature is lavish, abundant, extravagant. Nothing is ever lost to God; everything that manifests goes back into an unmanifested state to appear again in a different form. No matter how much we take out of the Universe, if we take out with one hand, we have to put back with the other, because the Universe is everywhere and is one system.

We need a big concept of the Universe. We need to know that all substance will remain the same, in essence, including the laws that govern it. The form it takes is never twice alike and does not have to be, because there is always enough continuity in each expression to keep its form in harmony and symmetry.

There is one Substance in the Universe. It takes the form of the supply we need, when we need it. I believe there are great cosmic patterns to which we are attached. One of them is what in our language we call substance, which in our human limited sense means supply and right action. There is one Mind that knows everything, and that Mind knows as us. Therefore, when we accept Its guidance, we are compelled to choose rightly and act on our choice to acquire those things we need.

There can never be the proper circulation of Substance as supply to humanity until the Divine pattern is recognized. Why should we go through life impoverished in spirit? Everywhere we see the greater good held away because of a denial of a lesser good, and because we think there is no other avenue through which money or affection or appreciation can come. It is hard to gain spiritual maturity, to see that God is in everything because God is all there is. …

Whoever lifts a cup of acceptance to the outpouring of the Divine abundance shall find that it will be filled. But mostly we turn the cup upside down. Whoever strives and spends time enough, gets away long enough from the confusion of life, will discover a new experience of abundant living.

— Excerpted from “A Holmes Reader for All Seasons” by Ernest Holmes, August 2022 Science of Mind magazine

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