A decade ago, I started the festival of Borrowed. It’s on February 28th or 29th (depending on which is available), and is a reminder that the Earth is precious and ecosystems are fragile. It seems even more relevant in the face of the climate emergency.

The festival of Borrowed highlights the idea that we do not own the Earth and its finite resources, we only borrow them, and share them with all other life.

For the festival of Borrowed, you’re invited to organize a group to plant some trees, plant flowers for the bees, clean up some litter, or tend your garden.

If the ground outside is still covered in snow, then plan and organize some tree planting for when the weather improves.

February 29th is also Rare Disease Day, so check that out too.

This year I learned a distressing new word: domicide, which refers to the mass destruction of homes and infrastructure in Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, and elsewhere. The amount of carbon emissions from wars around the globe is staggering, too.

It’s similar to the equally distressing subject of ecocide, which is defined as the mass destruction of ecological systems such as forests, rivers, marine environments, and so on.

Both of these terms need to be recognized as crimes in international law.

Although it is good to clean up your own act and reduce your carbon footprint, it’s also good to be aware that the concept of carbon footprints was invented by oil and gas companies to distract attention away from their massively environmentally damaging activities.

So join or donate to Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace, Stop Ecocide, and organizations that promote the land rights of Indigenous Peoples like Survival International and Cultural Survival, because 80% of the biodiversity on Earth is on lands cared for by Indigenous Peoples.

Getting involved in local causes is also great if you can. Here in Canada, the Wet’suwet’en people are still trying to protect their ancestral lands from pipelines and logging, and being criminalized for doing so.

And do everything you can to raise awareness of the climate emergency, ecocide, and promote Indigenous land rights.

Adopting an animist worldview and approach to life is also a helpful step to make.

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Previous posts about Borrowed:

• Borrowed 2023
• Borrowed 2020
• Borrowed 2018: It’s in the Earth
• Borrowed 2014

I thought I’d blogged about it every year, but perhaps I didn’t.

Please feel free to post this graphic on your social media, blog, etc.