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Unheard Voices
By Dena Merriam
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It was the fall of 2018, and I was on my way to Poland to attend COP24, the United Nations Climate Summit, stopping in Paris overnight, when I had one of those rare dream visions, just before awakening. In the dream I was standing by the window in my Manhattan apartment overlooking the East River in New York City when a large whale swam up the river and stopped right in front of my building. It looked directly up at me, and we made eye contact; an exchange took place. Looking directly at the whale, I found myself saying, “I hear you.” After speaking those words internally, I opened my eyes, returning to the external world, feeling deeply touched by the experience. I knew I had just made a commitment, a commitment to listen and hear.
A few weeks earlier I had been in Japan at a climate change meeting with a small group of religious leaders. A young environmentalist from the Dominican Republic, who had extensive contact with whales, was also there. He spoke about the song of the whales, and their ability to communicate across thousands of miles He told us how the humpback whales gather in Samana Bay in the waters around the Dominican Republic at the same time annually. It is said they compose a new song together each year and then balance their bodies facing down toward the ocean bottom and sing it to the earth. Despite the assaults they are under, they still sing, while we humans have forgotten how to sing to the earth and have forgotten how to hear the voices of other life forms.
My experience that night in Paris gave me a personal interaction with a whale, and a powerful transmission took place. The next day I found myself at the COP meeting, thinking, “I am here for the whales for they have spoken to me.” I went to all the sessions I could find on the seas but not one mentioned the effects of climate change on animal life. Much of the conversation centered on us humans; how we would be impacted in the future by the warming oceans and changes to ocean currents. The life forms of the seas were not represented at COP and had no voice there.
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"Each life in the wide and complex web of the natural world is an essential component of the whole. With each loss, our inner being knows and feels it." | |
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Last year off the western coast of the US, an usual heat wave occurred, causing some human deaths, but during that heat wave over a billion sea animals lost their lives. Earlier this year, 45 whales were found dead off the coast of New York, the cause unknown. This summer, around 100 whales beached themselves in Australia, in what is called a “mass stranding.” Many of them were young. Fifty-one of the whales died immediately, but officials were able to get 45 back into deep water. But those recued whales beached themselves again, re-stranding. They all died. What is the message that we are not hearing? One has to ask, did they sacrifice themselves for a specific purpose?
I have not forgotten my dream experience of the whale. It still haunts me. But it is not just the whales who are trying to communicate with us. We have tuned out and lost the ability to hear the messages coming from all parts of the natural world.
In New York state, a third of the birds have disappeared over the last few decades. When I first moved to my home north of New York City in 1971, I would be awakened in the early morning to the humming chatter of a multitude of birds. Birdsong still can be heard in the early morning hours, but there are far fewer birds to sing. Recent studies have shown that North America has lost a billion birds over the last decades. Do we not care that our children and grandchildren may not have the joy and comfort of these fellow companions? It must be our priority to ensure that they do. New studies show a relationship between birdsong and mental health, and there is an increasing mental health crisis among the youth.
Each life in the wide and complex web of the natural world is an essential component of the whole. With each loss, our inner being knows and feels it. We are not immune to this disappearance of life. We will suffer along with all else. The science of climate change is the foundation for us to transition to a more sustainable world, but it is not enough. There are vast ecosystems to restore and land to be healed. Along with that science must come a change in consciousness, a reconnection, a re-bonding with the many life forms that share this earth with us, enabling us to become more mindful, more attentive, more aware, more caring, more awake. We must become the transmitters of love that we are meant to be.
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"We must become the transmitters of love that we are meant to be." | |
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Whenever I hear of an incident with a whale, I feel it keenly and think of my whale friend who was inspired to approach me. That experience will never leave me. I told the whale, “I hear you,” but hearing must lead to action. I am not a scientist or government official, but I can be present and communicate internally with the whale community, just as I can show appreciation and love for the birds, take time to listen to their song and thank them, express gratitude, and sorrow at what they are enduring. It is time to befriend again all that lives in the natural world.
We have reached a time when we must expand our consciousness to include more than our family, our friends, or the human community. Our survival depends on this expansion for we cannot proceed alone into the unknown era that we face. We need our animal companions, just as they need us. We need our forests and plant life, our rivers and soil, our air. We must see and live in the awareness of the whole because one part cannot survive without the health of the whole.
Each one of us has a part to play in shaping our collective future. We can advocate for sustainable policies, pressure governments and businesses to act, but at the end of the day, if we don’t care to listen to the chirping of the birds, feel the grandeur of the whales and honor their love for the earth, we won’t get very far. Love is what will get us through this crisis we face, because from love, action follows.
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I will close with another dream/vision of a few weeks ago. I was lying on a surfboard in the ocean, something I have never done, drifting further and further away from the shore, when I found myself surrounded by sharks, who were circling around me. The thought entered my mind that this is surely the end. There is no way to escape them. Just as I was resigned to my death, an animal from below came and lifted my surfboard, carrying me safely to shore. It was a whale who had come to save me. What is the message? If we have the foresight, vision and love to save our animal kin, they will surely come to save us. | Excerpt from: Climate Change and Sustainable Agro Ecology in Global Dry Land, chapter on Humanity and Nature, edited by Prof. Dr. Adel-El Beltagy, to be published 2024 CABI Publishing UK | "We must see and live in the awareness of the whole because one part cannot survive without the health of the whole." | | | | |
