Bluebell is a bison who lives at Earthfire Institute and Wildlife Sanctuary in Idaho. Years ago, the director, Susan Eirich, requested that I ask her these questions about healing the planet. What can we humans do to help heal the planet from human-made degradation? I am Bluebell, named by humans in a very appropriate way for my character, which is peaceful and connected with flowers. I am united with all the other bison, not just those in the present, but the rolling ancestral herds of long ago that thundered across the plains. The vibration of our hoof beats inspired us and became the pulse of our movement, our call to Mother Earth, our celebration of life. I still feel the echoes in my feet, the ghosts of our kind long gone. We wandered through the tall grasses and open spaces and nurtured the earth with our rhythms, taking in the grass of life and leaving behind nurturance for further grass and flowers to grow. It was all in balance.
I can still hear the sounds of those rifles killing scores upon scores of our ancestors. I was one of them. Yes, I roamed the land in bison form in ages past and remember how it feels to have many brothers and sisters of my kind all around me. The rich smell of us rose and fell with the dew. Sweetness engulfed us, and mighty power kept us safe. We cared for each other but could not stop the coming decimation, eliminating our rolling thunder on the plains and our dance with Mother Earth that balanced everything in its wake.
My name, Bluebell, reminds me of how we smelled the flowers, took them into our bodies, and returned their sweetness to the soil to start the cycle of growth afresh. I stand here now, very peaceful and grateful for my life.
When I was young, I thought humans were strange creatures. Walking on two legs made them unbalanced, foreign, cold, and unfriendly. My friends were four-legged creatures who understood me and smelled like earth. Then, the humans reached out to me, and I could feel their kindness and need for companionship. I began to like them and desire their company, not only for the food they brought but for the likeness of our souls.
I realized that I, too, had a kinship with these creatures that walked upright, even though they seemed so often preoccupied with thoughts and images that were only in their heads. When they smelled me, they breathed my essence, and it reminded them to smell the earth and the flowers and be clear-headed and peaceful, centered with their feet fully connected to the ground, like we are.
I began to feel we had a friendship and needed each other. People got my requests for rubbing my coat. I could feel it right down to my skin—a delicious feeling. We bison used to do that for each other in great groups, rubbing each other, the ground, rocks, and branches, and making great dust wallows. What joy!
In telling you of my ancestry that I remember in my bones and particularly in my feet on the ground, I am answering your question of how humans can heal Mother Earth.
Feel the Earth, feel her pulse. Unite with each other and all creatures. Walk in great groups that smell like earth and treasure its rhythms and harmonies. Smell my fur, and you will understand. You will smell the fragrance of the ages, the dust we bison stirred, and all the creatures that depended on us for our life—what we ate and gave back to Mother Earth. How can humans create a more balanced ecosystem for all life on Earth? Bring the herds back. Let the bison roam the plains. Now fragments exist that humans manage for their own needs first. Let us roam in large groupings that again echo the thunder of ages past. Let us return the tall grass prairies by our movements, the flowers that carpet the fields endlessly in the spring. Let us warm the earth in the winter with our bodies’ strength in numbers. Let us join with each other to heal our planet. You will heal yourselves just by standing in our presence and seeing the miracle of balance we create. It needs to be done to reverse the degradation that humans have brought. What else would you like to say? I am peaceful in my bones and heart of hearts that extends through all the land. I am grateful for my company, bison—horse, goat, wolf, human, and all the other creatures around me in the contained community of Earthfire and wild beings that inhabit the area.
Life is beautiful. I smell the earth and rejoice with each breath. I am happy to relate to you and all other beings. I am grateful that my needs are met. No, you cannot meet the long-felt need for rolling thunder, but I am at peace. I stand connected to my ancestors and all the bison on Earth who also feel and remember.
