Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/growing-beyond-the-fire/5026851/
Sometimes when everything falls apart, we cannot yet see what is coming even in the next few moments, let alone 10 or 25 years from now. The landscape of our field, a field that has been beloved to me for more than 25 years past, is decimated. It is a dying ecosystem. As hard as it is to say this out loud, I believe our first step into the future must be acknowledging our present pain, grief, and loss.
Then, I invite us to imagine growing a future together, by observing and learning from the natural world.
It feels as if we are metaphorically in the middle of one of the devastating fires that have wracked the Western U.S. for the past several summers, with fire seasons growing longer each year. In 2021, I evacuated twice for one of these fires, sure as I have ever been it would be the very last time I would see my home.
Early childhood has always been my home, led here by babies, and the ecosystem, while not always thriving, was beautiful to me. In my intersecting privilege, there is much harm in the field I have not yet acknowledged—from the systemic racism built into our funding ...