Is a widespread climate chaos or collapse inevitable? Can we face this impending chaos through the frameworks promoted by late stage capitalism: the ones driven by quarterly or annual financial returns? Is it time to stop accepting that we are lonely, sinful, inadequate and isolated from our more-than-human kins? How can we create a “Beloved community” and move away from a sense of shame and inadequacy? 

Dr. Kritee explores these questions in a talk given on the second last of a six day residential retreat for people of color in a way that is also gently accessible for those who identify as White.

Since the industrial revolution and widespread adoption of Western materialistic values, humans have caused massive decline in health of our global ecosystems. Our planet is currently undergoing loss of tens or hundreds of thousands of species as a part of the sixth mass extinction. Now it seems inevitable that because of our actions, not just other species, but humans across the planet will also directly face widespread climate chaos or even collapse.

Is there a way to stay grounded or even thrive in such times? What can we learn from indigenous cultures, and for example, from their ecological footprints, from their deep sense of belonging even to their enemies and from their concept of deep time?  Can we remove away from the paradigm of needing to see change in our lifetimes and act from a place of planting seeds even if we will not be alive to see the fruits on the trees? What kind of loving and belonging to all other beings, both human and more-than-human, will take us to the place where we can be completely loving and peaceful as we plant these seeds? 

This talk was given at a time when Dr. Kritee was suffering from intense burning pain of shingles, a nerve infection, on 22nd June 2024 at Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center.