“Psst! Moe… you up?”  Moe DeGrasse shook a wheel and roused himself from his noontime nap. “Do you know if your guy plans to make you mow the back section of this yard?”  Polly Nator asked. “That’s my home!  And dozens of my relatives live there too.  Where will we go if it’s all cut down?”.
Moe was sympathetic to Polly’s situation but frankly, he was a slave to his owner’s whims. He had often chased Polly around this yard and several of the neighbor’s plots.  “Gosh, I don’t know what he plans to do,” Moe replied. “Ever since he got me last year he rides around mowing down anything in sight.  Seems like riding on me makes him feel like he’s doing yard ‘work’ while sitting on his behind and never breaking a sweat.  I’m not so proud about all of that or of the fumes his excessive mowing blasts into the air.  It’s literally making the planet hotter.”

       Polly settled on to Moe’s deck. “Yeah, I get it.  Humans like seeing tidy, green expanses, but they forget that those ‘immaculate’ expanses make poor homes for me and my relatives.  We need places to raise our families too!” Polly sighed. “They forget that one out of every three bites of their food is grown with the help of us pollinators.  Yet pollinator populations are dropping by 1 - 2% every year.  Instead of constantly chasing us out, they could be helping us like Bess Practices does. She’s over on Livewell St. and has a very homey yard.”

       Bess’s yard has a beautiful display of native plants with over-lapping bloom times so there’s always a variety of nectar and pollen sources.  At the back, a small patch of well-drained bare soil is left open for ground-nesting bees.  That’s next to a little brush pile where cavity-nester bees, beetles and flies can make their homes. 

       And Bess is smart.  She waters only when it’s needed and keeps pesticide use to a minimum.  Instead, she practices integrated pest management – a system that matches pest biology with her yard’s environment.  That way, she reduces pests while minimizing risks to people, property, and the ecosystem.

       “Honestly,” Moe concluded, “I’d be just as happy napping here in the sun instead of mowing down stuff unnecessarily because this is our only home.  It’s where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”

        Hugh rushed in and yelled, “Hey Mom!  I’m kinda in a hurry, and I need to borrow the…” But his mother called him up short. “Whoa! Slow down cowboy.  When you say ‘borrow’ do you mean – use for a short time and then return it in the same condition?  Or do you mean – keep it and use it up?”

       Hugh paused for a moment, avoiding looking his mother in the eyes, but then blurted out, “But I really need it!”  Sheepishly adding, “I might not be able to bring it back in the same condition, at least not right away.”

       Mother didn’t say a word but continued mixing up a teapot full of some aromatically enticing concoction. Pouring two stemming mugs full, she said, “Have a seat son and catch your breath. We need to talk.”  As if under a spell, Hugh sat down and sipped the tantalizing tonic.

      “You seem to have forgotten or at least misplaced a concept that indigenous peoples around the world have understood and practiced throughout the ages.  We call it  reciprocity - the mutual exchange of support, emotional investment, care, and love.

       “Native American author Robin Wall Kimmerer says we are ‘bound in a covenant of reciprocity, a pact of mutual responsibility to sustain whose who sustain us.  Plant breath for animal breath, grass and fire, predator and prey, living and dying all dance in a continuous giveaway of making and unmaking and making again the earth.’  Living by this covenant, native peoples looked to protect the welfare of those who will follow seven generations into the future.  In contrast, Hugh, I’m afraid you’ve fallen into the habit of only looking at the next quarter’s spreadsheet and whether you can show a profit in the annual report.”

       “Gosh, you’re right.  I’m sorry Mom.  I’ll do better,” Hugh Mankind promised.

       “And I’m here to help,” Mother Earth winked tapping the mug he’d been drinking from. “Sip some of this ‘reciprocity recipe tea’ every day.  It’s full of mutual respect, emotional support, care and love for all of the life that surrounds you.”

       Hugh hugged his mother and then remembered. “Oh, I brought this for you.”  It was a belated ‘Happy Earth Day’ card that read:  Thank you!  This precious Earth is ours to share and protect for generations to come - our only home where we’re all forever… Earthbound.