"People of today relate to time in a way that is surely unique in our history. The technologies and economic forces unleashed by the Industrial Growth Society radically alter our experience of time. It is like being trapped in an ever-shrinking box, in which we race on a treadmill. The economy and its technologies depend on decisions made at lightning speed for short-term goals, cutting us off from nature's rhythms and from the past and the future, as well. Marooned in the present, we are progressively blinded to the sheer ongoingness of time. Both the company of our ancestors and the claims of our descendants become less and less real to us.
To make the transition to a life-sustaining society, we must retrieve that ancestral capacity--in other words, act like ancestors. We need to attune to longer, ecological rhythms and nourish a strong, felt connection with past and future generations. For us as agents of change, this isn't easy, because to intervene in the political and legislative decisions of the Industrial Growth Society, we fall by necessity into its tempo. We race to find and pull the levers before it is too late to save this forest, or stop that weapons program. Nonetheless, we can learn again to drink at deeper wells." -- Joanna Macy
On my road trip last week I travelled across New Mexico and Arizona, through the lands of 10,000 years inhabitation by the Pueblo Indians, through the Petrified Forest where 220 million year old trees-turned-to-stone look like crystal rainbows in the sunlight (just like they said in grade school.) 
I couldn't help but think of Joanna Macy, a teacher/writer/eco-philosopher, who inspires me at a level beneath my consciousness and encourages me to imagine the impossible. Calling upon the wisdom from deep ecology, systems theory and buddhism, Joanna's work centers around what she calls The Great Turning, "the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization."
The Great Turning asks us to relate to time differently, to consider our ancestors, these people who lived in this land before us, the people who travelled here from all the continents to offer a life of abundance to our great-great-great grandmothers and grandfathers. It asks us also to consider our future ancestors whom we hope will find their way from our baby steps toward that life-sustaining civilization and the fulfillment of the best of what's possible for all beings on the planet.
As I travelled with speed across two states and several hundred miles of reminders of deep time, echoes of past and future ancestors, I remembered my 4 Ways to Keep Your Sustainability Mindset. Number 3 on the list was "Appreciate the world in ways you haven't lately." I decided to add "deep time" (this link is worth bookmarking--loaded with good reading) as a way to appreciate the world in a new way. Seeing a two-million year old tree in a piece of petrified wood, imagiing the songs of tribes from ten thousand years ago echoing off the canyon walls--imagining a future as old as this past--has added to my appreciation and commitment to the earth in a way no green advertising campaign has ever managed.
On Joanna's website she offers her own personal guidelines for the Great Turning. Among these great guidelines is one we've been known to mention a time or two: "Roll up your Sleeves: Many people don't get involved in the Great Turning because there are so many different issues, which seem to compete with each other. Shall I save the whales or help battered children? The truth is that all aspects of the current crisis reflect the same mistake, setting ourselves apart and using others for our gain. So to heal one aspect helps the others to heal as well. Just find what you love to work on and take joy in that. Never try to do it alone. Link up with others; you'll spark each others' ideas and sustain each others' energy."
My favorite of all of her teachings? Gratitude is where healing the earth begins.
"Then, ever again, we go forth into the action that calls us. With others whenever and wherever possible, we set a target, lay a plan, step out. We don’t wait for a blueprint or fail-proof scheme; for each step will be our teacher, bringing new perspectives and opportunities. Even when we don’t succeed in a given venture, we can be grateful for the chance we took and the lessons we learned. And the spiral begins again."
You can read more from Joanna Macy in her many fine writings and visit her website for a wealth of inspiration and resources for your own venture into our stewardship of the earth for the past and the future generations.
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