While my first association with nature probably is ‘green…and grant’ – the wide forest of Montana, the grandeur of the ocean, the purity of the air around the mountain tops – nature is so much more, so much more ubiquitous. It’s even the small patch of grass that we might long for in the daily urban jungle. Sometimes I walk around town, wondering whether all the roads, the shops and buildings are now our ‘natural habitat’. I have not found an answer, oscillating between the occasional amazement and disgust. After five years in India, ‘unspoilt’ nature is an item of luxury. Sure, we find the vast expanse…and then the plastic bag.

MOTHER NATURE…mother. Nurturing, growth, change. Nature and me, we have an ambiguous relationship – I love her, I worship her…but as with my own mother, I may still take time until I fully live up to her worth. There is this feeling to want to say THANK YOU…thank you for letting us be, and grow, and live. Ever since my own transition into motherhood, the absolute amazement at what Nature is capable of, and what I am capable of because in the end I am part of her, strengthens that feeling of gratitude even more.  Yet…. MOTHER NATURE….in cultures where the role of the mother is praised so much – we sure pay her little respect. And what we need to understand (I’m quoting an environmental awareness add now): Nature doesn’t need us…we actually do!