Sacred Earth Activism Online Summit 2024: Three positive approaches to taking meaningful environmental action

Consistent, collaborative action is key to bringing about healing and positive change to Mother Earth at both a global and local level.

But where is the best place to start here? Some activists face the fire alone. But when tackling larger issues, especially in David versus Goliath situations, they soon discover that teamwork provides the support and strength they need to protect and serve others most effectively.

Three speakers at Sacred Earth Activism’s Online Summit this year illustrated the point perfectly. Each had experienced local environment-related challenges, which spurred them on to action. They also found like-minded, passionate souls to join them in their fight for justice or in healing the land.

The importance of team effort

John Adams is chairman of The Stonehenge Alliance and director of Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site. At the conference, he spoke about his struggle to protect the iconic site and its environs from tunnel construction and roadworks.

Adams, along with a small team, have undertaken tireless campaigns and legal challenges for many years. They are the only group standing in the way of the desecration and devastation of this ancient British landmark, which stands close to where Adams lives.

His story demonstrates what team effort, no matter the size of the group involved, can achieve. Because, as Adams pointed out, the Alliance has been battling tirelessly against this road scheme for more than 20 years.

“So, take heart if you’ve got your own battles in your own backyard,” he said. “Twenty years is an extraordinarily long time to be running a campaign, so this is really a story about environmental activism”.

The Alliance’s position has the backing of UNESCO, which assigns World Heritage Site status, and other organisations with similar global reach. Such support is significant because, as Adams said: “World Heritage Sites are not an arbitrary designation.”

“Places, buildings, landscapes are given the most careful consideration and have to meet explicit UNESCO standards,” he explained. “This is our shared legacy from the past, what we live with today, what we pass on to future generations.”

The power of consistent action

Someone else who has also been active in trying to ensure there is a legacy to pass on to future generations is Jack Mazingira. He is founder of the youth-led, non-profit organisation Towards Green Environment CBO in Kenya.

Mazingira started the initiative after his village was repeatedly hit by worsening floods due to climate change. The floods damaged farmland and displaced people, schools and local markets.

But Mazingira recognised that educating himself and others about environmental issues would be vital to helping the village survive in future. So, he created Towards Green Environment and involved the entire district in planting trees. Mazingira described it as “growing trees with children” who he acknowledged are vital to the future health of the community.

His slogan is “small acts every day” to serve as a reminder that consistent action is the only way to truly bring about change. But his talk also served as a reminder of the impact of the global north’s refusal to take responsibility for consumerism and, ultimately, climate change.

The value of spiritual action

A third speaker, meanwhile, was Danielea Castell. As a nature mentor consultant and founder of The Listening Field, she spoke about how important spiritual action was to bring about meaningful change in the natural world.

Her listening fields, or circles, provide individuals, groups, and organisations with the tools to “communicate directly with the nature elders involved in their lives, businesses, and missions”. If an area is in trouble, the idea is to tune into the nature elders, whether they consist of trees, water or spirits of a particular place, to find out what they have to say and what can be done to help.

“When you communicate with the nature elders, you receive messages, and the messages received during these dialogues are usually interpreted and used for strategic planning and transformative action, so that these actions and planning are aligned with Nature's principles,” Castell explained.

She also made it clear that such communication could be undertaken by anyone who wanted to support healing, not just experts.

“Do you need to be an experienced nature communicator? Absolutely not,” Castell said. We've discovered that as long as you have a love bond with a particular nature elder, when you invite them to come into the field, they come.”

To watch the full talks from Danielea Castell, Jack Mazingira and John Adams, as well as all the inspiring speakers at our recent Online Summit, click here