I didn’t used to be into the environment too much as a kid. I knew it was important, but I didn’t see how it connected to my life. I had what I needed at home: food, water, shelter. As the daughter of Indian immigrants living in the suburbs of Chicago, my family and I used to go to Devon Street in the city of Chicago to get a huge haul of Indian grains and spices. This was when I was in elementary school. But by the time I was in high school, there were several South Asian grocery stores and vegetables just around the corner from us. I had no idea about supply chain or how food was harvested, I just knew that I didn’t have to worry about getting car sick on the way to Devon Street.
There are some kids out there that love bugs and playing in the mud, but that wasn’t me. It wasn’t until I moved to California in 2017 that I realized how much I didn’t know about the land. Chicago was flat and boring but California was bumpy and luscious! I knew so little about it, so I started asking questions.
Here are some questions I’ve asked:
Where does my water come from?
Who were the Indigenous Peoples here?
What did the Indigenous Peoples eat?
How were the Indigenous Peoples dispossessed?
What make a high tide high and a low tide low?
What is the bioluminescence?
How long is the beach?
What kind of tree is that?
But what about that other tree?
Why do the pine trees in California look so different from Chicago?
Will it ever rain?
What way does the wind usually blow where I live?
Where does my garbage go?
Is the recycling ever really recycled?
Will I be able to see California poppies this year?
What part of nature was destroyed in order to make freeways?
What is that purple flower?
What makes lemon trees smell so good?
What questions do you ask about your land? Leave a comment or hit reply and let me know!
Remember, if you are a member of The Healing Hype, you’re invited to my upcoming workshop called Connecting to the Land, Connecting to Ourselves on Sunday, August 1 at 10am PST/1pm EST (it will be recorded). Register here.
Share this post