Thank you Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,

Today, I want to thank you for all the life’s beauty that you have granted us since eternity. It is because of your magic that we are here and alive.

Thank you Mother Nature for providing us:

Fresh water without which we cannot survive. Your healthy water ecosystems like watersheds, wetlands and forests naturally clean pollution and toxins from water. You provided us with soils, microorganisms, and plant roots which play a role in filtering and recycling out pollutants.
Insects, birds, and even some mammals who pollinate the world’s plants, including much of human agriculture. Around 80% of the world’s plants require a different species to act as pollinator. We could never have been able to do this without you.
The healthy fertile soil which provides homes and nutrients for plants.
The greatest medicine cabinet ever known to mankind. We can never repay the multitude of life-saving medicines from quinine to aspirin, and from morphine to numerous cancer and HIV-fighting drugs given by you. We have just examined 1% of the world’s known species for their medicinal value and would take us years to fully utilize the benefits of this medicine cabinet. No one knows, what miracle cures lie untapped within you.
Fisheries which more than a billion of people depend on as their primary source of protein, many of them among the global poor. It provides livelihoods, both directly and indirectly, for around half a billion around the world. You not only gifted us fisheries but also created coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass ecosystems which provide nurseries for the world’s fisheries.
Ways to regulate the Earth’s climate. Your rainforests, peatlands, and mangroves store significant amounts of carbon, while the ocean captures massive amounts of carbon through plankton.
Services to balance our economy. Without your fertile soils, clean drinking water, healthy forests, and a stable climate, the world’s economy would face disaster.
The lush green trails and landscapes where we can rest our eyes and recharge our energy. The beauty of flowers, the shade of trees, the sound of swaying leaves, the morning fog, the mesmerizing ripples of a thriving body of water heal us mentally and physically.

You have given us everything but we have not been able to take care of your precious and fragile gifts. We don’t deserve all this. You still give because maybe you believe that we can change. We now realize that you were not created for us to mishandle, instead, we were created to steward you.

This Thanksgiving, we promise to bring a positive change and take actions with you in mind. We promise to open our eyes to your subtle warnings and adopt a new behavior to protect your gifts and give sustainable future to our next generations.

More about the author: Hardeep Kaur