The official launch of the Earthfire Council of All Beings starts in April, when we begin to roll out this special year-long program, under the umbrella title, “Showing Up for Life on Earth.” The Earthfire Council of All Beings is a way for us to come together and share with each other what motivates us to care for our Earth and all the Life upon it; but it’s also a way for us to learn together what Nature is asking of us, through the voices and perspectives of the wild animals we’ve come in contact with in our lives. And it is a way for us to support one another in finding our personal path to taking action.
The “All Beings” part of “Council of All Beings” is something that most of us already innately understand: Animals are here on Earth by the same grace that we humans are. We share a kinship that is ancient and deep. This Earth is theirs as much as it is ours. Just as every human person is a unique individual worthy to live upon this planet, so are they—unique individuals who have a right to be here and are worthy of our love and respect.
If you have been attending our monthly Conservation Conversations, our portal into the Earthfire Council of All Beings, then you know we have been talking a lot about the nature of love. We have been asking ourselves: Why is love such a universal expression of all Life? In what ways is love connected to our human creativity and our resilience—also expressions of all Life? When we look closer, we realize that qualities we normally think of as human are shared with all living beings.
Conservation Conversations are an intimate way for us all to get to know each other and to build the community upon which the Council of All Beings will depend.
Council members (our one-time and recurring donors) got a taste of what’s to come on February 12, when we hosted our first live “studio broadcast” of Earthfire Radio, with wildlife advocate Jill Robinson. Jill’s story is an amazing one. Almost single-handedly, she cast a spotlight on the barbaric practice of “bear bile farming” in China and Vietnam. What gave her the energy and motivation to take on such an enormous task? It was the gentle touch of a single, caged, female bear that changed her life in a moment and crystallized her commitment to save animals such as her from a fate worse than death.
Earthfire Radio is a new feature of the Council of All Beings, starting in earnest in April. All Council members will be invited to attend our broadcasts as members of our live studio audience, and you’ll have the unique opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion with our guests. Recorded episodes will be posted on a new Radio section on the Earthfire site.
Our great hope and aspiration is that Jill Robinson’s story will become yours and ours, too. In ways big and small, we all have it within us to cross that bridge from love to commitment and action. We invite you join us on this journey. There is more to come.
