It is an extra-ordinary anniversary in so many ways.
Perhaps not the way Earth would have wanted it…
And certainly not the way we, humans, would have imagined it a year ago.
What is the state of the planet?
Cleaner waters and clearer skies, plummeting oil prices and vacant highways, dolphins in unusual places and quiet urban sites, cities visible from space and massive human exodus.
Are songs and poems and dances in order, today?
Or should we start rewriting our Progress narrative in earnest and good faith?
Meanwhile, resilient Mother Earth tutors us into an agency of endurance and fortitude
And invites us to imagine what next year’s anniversary could be like if we followed her lead.
We would like to present Earth with a polyphonic piece featuring guest contributions from University Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, as a tribute to this unique moment in our collective History.
Marie Lienard-Yeterian
C’est un moment de pause, d’hésitation entre hier et demain, un moment de flou, où toutes les catégories, tous les ordres, toute la propreté d’une grammaire aussi nécessaire qu’arbitraire se trouvent à la fois révélés et abolis.
C’est un moment où ce qui est propre, ce qui nous est propre, ces certitudes qui balisaient l’espace habitable de notre culture, tout cela s’effondre, se recompose.
Les réflexes, les vérités, les habitudes devront être reconstruites. Il y aura d’autres totems, d’autres limites pour signifier ce qui est intime et le séparer de ce qui nous est étranger. Ce sera pour plus tard.
Pour le moment, c’est le temps de la contagion, c’est à dire le temps de la rupture des barrières imaginaires, le temps où le réel nous rappelle qu’il ne se laissera jamais entièrement dompter par nos catégories, nos lois, notre syntaxe, nos modèles. C’est un temps nécessaire et difficile. Il faut en faire une révélation, plonger dans cet argile, et dessiner ce que sera demain.
Léo Daguet
The Earth has been feeling better for the last few weeks, animals are roaming around freely, plants are growing and mother nature takes back what is rightfully hers, the Earth going forward is only going to be a better place to live on if we do the right things, so let’s us come out of this as population that is grateful for what we have this one planet Earth, that protects us and that we should protect too in return.
Karim DJEMA
Illness came, and here we are
Locked inside from dusk to dawn
Nighttime curfew, yet a star
Shining bright begins to yawn
“Stay home— even though it’s dark
After tempests comes the sun”
Says she, almost in a bark
“Yet the fight has just begun”
Daytime comes, a cloudy sky—
Light is nowhere to be found
At the window, there I cry
But looking up, I see —astound
On a branch two birds in strife
Here it is, amidst this void— Life!
Adrien SPIGA
A Common Unity
Often, we name it Mother Earth. A Mother that gives without asking for anything in return, a symbol of the purest form of kindness. Alas, we have taken too much from her, and without a mother, what good is a family ? Changing our habits step by step and going out of our way to positively impact the environment is of the essence. The current crisis has shown us that we all can, and to great lengths, make effective alterations. We can be better.
Repeated as if it were an axiom; We only have one earth, and it is a necessity that we take care of it. For she can do without us, but we cannot do without her. We all share one thing, so intricate and deep; Life on Mother Earth. A beautiful and precious gift.
Jérémy BOREL-GARIN