A Deep Breath Amidst the Storm

A Climate Leaders’ Retreat and a Poem for the Temple

I write this looking out over the Cascade mountains in Washington.

It’s a stunning day. The chorus of birdsong has been consistent and majestic, and the Enchantments ridgeline looks so clear it feels I could reach out and touch it.

This world is beautiful.

The mountains are bare of any patches of snow, unusual for this time of year here. I can see large swathes of forest that have been killed by some environmental stressor, and I know that when I was born, the north slopes of these mountains held glaciers - no more.

This world is changing quickly.

To honor this duality - the beauty and tragedy of this moment - I have two offerings today: a retreat for climate leaders this fall in Colorado, and a poem I left in the Temple at Burning Man last week.

A Deep Breath Amidst the Storm

“The times are urgent; let us slow down.” - Bayo Akomolafe

Amidst another summer of climate records, it’s critical for those dedicating themselves to the much-needed and diverse work to address the climate emergency to take space to re-center, rejuvenate, and reconnect with the more-than-human world.

My colleague and dear friend Brooks Barron and I will be hosting A Deep Breath Amidst the Storm: A Climate Leaders’ Retreat in Boulder, November 9-10.

Hosted at the beautiful Starhouse in the foothills of the Front Range, this two-day retreat will be a nexus of community, connection, and clarity for climate leaders.

Drawing on our experience both as wilderness guides and leadership coaches, we’ll embark on group and individual practices to connect with the wisdom of nature, and dive deep into the challenges each of us face through direct and actionable group coaching.

We’ll also hold a grief ceremony to honor the depth of loss that many of us feel (or avoid feeling) towards the ongoing devastation of ecologies and communities both close to home and around the world.

Those that join us for this retreat will leave feeling grounded in the truth of this moment and their agency to make change, supported by a powerful and caring community, and connected to the wisdom and beauty of the animate world.

Please reach out if you’re interested or would like more information, and share far and wide with any people or communities you think would be a good fit.

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A Poem for the Temple

I was at Burning Man last week, and in lieu of sharing anything about my personal experience (though some of that may come through in a future post) I wanted to share a poem I wrote for and left in the Temple.

The Temple is a space of grieving - to honor what we’ve lost. I chose to write something to honor the trans-personal and trans-species loss we’re all experiencing.

For context, one of the aspects about Burning Man that has struck me most in recent years is how humanity is essentially alone there - very few other species visibly live in the Black Rock Desert.

* I recognize that offerings in the Temple are not generally meant to be shared publicly. I’m choosing to share this as a piece of my own work that happened to also be posted in that space, but I also want to acknowledge and honor the privacy and immediacy of the Temple.

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Here

In this

Wild and glorious expression

Of humanity’s

Creativity

Exuberance

Curiosity

And depth

May we remember the other

Wild and glorious threads

Of the tapestry of life.

May we gaze around us

And notice

We

Are

Alone

Here.

We’ve come to a place

Barren of our brethren.

The other souls

That make up

This more-than-human world.

In our celebration and exploration

May we find the

Clarity

Energy

And strength

To do what is needed

To save what we can

Of this impossibly complex

Green

World.

Here

In this

Holy place of grieving

May we grieve

Burning forests

Bleaching coral

Dammed rivers

Phantom salmon

Melting ice

Flooding villages

Smoky skies

And felled jungles.

May we remember and recover our role

As

Custodians

Stewards

Gardeners

Caretakers

Ecopoets.

May we rediscover how to use our gifts

Heart-centered vision

Right action

And deep imagination

To envision and enact

A new chapter of humanity

On this green and blue jewel.

This festival

Like others in our long history

Can be a return to God.

But let us remember

That god is not an idea

It is the grass.

We are alone here

Humanity on the playa

May we stop estranging ourselves

In body and spirit

From life

Viriditas

The pervasive

And good

Green force

Welling up across this world.

We have lost much.

Let us grieve them.

Then let us devote ourselves

In service

To all we can save.

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This poem draws inspiration and phrases from:

• To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue

• Straight Talk from Fox by Mary Oliver

• All We Can Save by Katharine K. Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

• The Emerald Podcast (particularly the episode on festivals).

• The work of Bill Plotkin and Geneen Marie Haugen.

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May we all find the balance between saving and savoring this world.

In wildness,

Dom