“Scientists have conferences on the Gaia hypothesis without acknowledging that this is exactly what people in tribal cultures, what witches, shamans, and psychics have been saying for thousands of years. But there’s a difference between accepting it as a scientific philosophy and really living it.

“Living with the knowledge that the cosmos is alive causes us to do something. It challenges us. Earth-based spirituality makes certain demands. That is, when we start to understand that the Earth is alive, she calls us to act to preserve her life.

“When we understand that everything is interconnected, we are called to politics and set of actions that come from compassion, from the ability to literally feel with all living beings on the Earth.

“That feeling is the ground upon which we can build community and come together and take action and find direction.

“Earth-based spirituality calls us to live with integrity. Once we know that we’re all part of this living body, this world becomes the terrain where we live out spiritual growth and development…and the way we do it is by enacting what we believe, by taking responsibility for what we do.”