As I write this blog essay, I realize it is my first one since the 2016 United States Presidential Elections. Over these last few months, I have reflected deeply about many aspects of my life to include my dreams for our country and world. I have also reflected deeply about how I need to respond to the outcome that had me in despair for over two weeks following the election results and continues to challenge me at every level of my being. This is so for me not because I dislike Mr. Trump (I do not know him obviously), but because, thus far, the actions of the Trump Administration contradict many things I believe to be good and true for our collective future (Americans and humanity in general).

Reputable scholars from across the disciplines (e.g., Johan Rockström, Will Steffen, Jeffrey Sachs, and Lester Brown) continue to inform us that we have crossed (e.g., concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere, genetic diversity) and are in danger of crossing multiple planetary boundaries (e.g., acidic levels of our oceans, land-system change).  Reputable scholars and scientists also continue to tell us that crossing these boundaries have broad reaching adverse consequences, and crossing several or all planetary boundaries certainly will not bode well for humanity’s collective future. However, the Trump Administration appears to be either unaware of or unconcerned about crossing planetary boundaries. For example, the Administration chose to nominate Scott Pruitt for the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mr. Pruitt has a long public record of fighting environmental regulations to protect our air, water, land, and climate. Furthermore, the Trump Administration has already started repealing current environmental protections while also releasing a national budget that reduces EPA funding by over 30%.

These actions and numerous other similar such actions contradict the evolutionary imperative before us to live more lightly on our planet while the population continues to soar and more countries strive for a Western standard of living. Consequently, the times may require a complete reimagining of what it means to be a sustainability leader in the age of Trumpism. For me, this inquiry has resulted in being engaged on a level in which I have not been engaged before in my life. I am reevaluating priorities; taking more time to call, tweet, and petition my elected officials; joining marches and rallies, and rethinking the causes in which I donate time and money.

However, more than any of these actions, I realize that a daily routine of a transformative life practice (i.e., multiple complementary practices that nurture body, mind, soul, & spirit) is the most important action I can take at this time in human history because ultimately, we are ones here on Earth now. For good or ill that means those of us that yearn for a more just, peaceful and sustainable world have the evolutionary responsibility to choose love and unity over fear and separation. I know I cannot consistently do that in our current political environment without a transformative life practice which includes daily meditation. While this may seem naïve and “soft” to some of my fellow sustainability leaders in the Age of Trumpism, how we show up, is as important as showing up.