“Every breath we take is part of the global carbon cycle, connecting us directly to the planet’s breathing system.”

The <n>Viti</n> crater at the <n>Askja</n> volcano in Iceland, with <n>Öskjuvatn</n> lake in the background.

Photography by <n>Bear Guerra</n> for <n>Emergence Magazine</n>.

<n>Darkness</n> (2021), a collage on paper by artist <n>Robin Whatley</n>.

Photograph by <n>Jošt Franko</n> for <n>Lydia Millet</n>'s story <n>Tortoise Station</n>.

An <n>Arctic fox</n> jumps over a river in the <n>Westfjords</n> of Iceland. Photo by <n>Einar Gudmann</n>.

Brown bear and ravens, 1987. Photo by <n>Antti Leinonen</n> for the book <n>Realms of the Russian Bear</n>.

<n>Breathing Planet - Atmospheric Wind Data</n> with soundscape by <n>Kate Fleur Young</n> and <n>Carolyn Downing</n>.

Shepherd on the Hortobagy Plain, Hungary, 1971, from <n>National Geographic</n>.

The <n>Gulf of Alaska</n>, where two oceans meet.

Seagulls fly past an iceberg in the <n>Arctic Ocean</n>.

“Two essential elements \[are\] needed if we are to tend to a relationship of reverence with the Earth: **humility** and **offering**. To ground ourselves in respect for the power of the Earth, and respond to Her unconditional generosity, we can begin by remembering to de-center our needs, and instead ask ourselves:



*What attitude towards the seasons can help me develop a relationship to place?*



*How can I offer \[love\] in response not only to the wonder, but to the pain of the Earth?*”

A puma sits on a rock in a snowy mountain landscape.

Massive waves break on a headland in Cornwall. Photo by <n>David Clapp</n>.

Aerial view of a glacial river meeting the sea in <n>Iceland</n>. Photo by <n>Andre Ermolaev</n>.

“The Earth itself thinks in myth. There is an aliveness in it. It speaks across species, a form of ecological communication that invites us into the unknown…”



**Martin Shaw**. “Valemon The Bear: Myth in the Age of the Anthropocene.” Emergence Magazine.

The <n>Geba River</n> in Guinea-Bissau, photographed by <n>João Paulo Bernardes</n>.

A <n>grizzly bear</n> walks through the snow with <n>Mount Denali</n> in the background.

Forced-perspective view of the <n>Kanchenjunga</n> mountain range from <n>Darjeeling</n>.