Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
Broadleaf Books, 173 pages
Published July 23, 2024
How do we love and care for the earth as we see it change before our eyes? How do we reckon with the grief of the climate crisis? And how do we do so while parenting our children? These are some of the questions that Lydia Wylie-Kellermann explores in her tender new book, This Sweet Earth.
My own worries and fears as the parent of a toddler drew me to this book. I know too well that the climate crisis will impact my child’s life more than my own. This Sweet Earth does not offer any cure-alls, and Wylie-Kellermann is under no delusions about the magnitude of the problem we face. She addresses parents’ fears head-on, yet with defiant hope.
First, she encourages us to read slowly. Slowness is the only speed at which we can wade through the emotional waters of climate change, for they are heavy; the only way to appreciate and care for the earth, she says, is to move more slowly through the world. Then Wylie-Kellermann tackles different elements of parenting while responding to climate collapse, with chapters that focus on parents’ role as teachers of the earth, family activism, the power of community, and hard conversations about the role of technology in our kids’ lives — concluding each chapter with a blessing for those engaging in this struggle. By incorporating stories from her family life, she offers glimpses into the worries and curiosities of her own children that illuminate the wonder and pain of parenting in the age of climate collapse. We journey alongside her children as they learn to love an earth that we have not loved well enough.
In my own parenting, I struggle with knowing how and when to share the reality of life’s challenges with my child. I want him to believe that the world is a magical place for as long as possible. But Wylie-Kellermann encourages caregivers to shepherd children through the emotions brought on by the climate crisis: “We have the opportunity to let them fall in love with this place while also sharing the imminent dangers that are upon us. Let their hearts break. Let them be angry. Let them fall apart in a place where they are loved. Let the reality around them be part of what forms their hearts and speaks to their future.” For Wylie-Kellermann, truth telling does not diminish the magic of the earth; it simply makes protecting it more urgent.
At times, Wylie-Kellermann’s offerings from her own life felt too lofty for me or for most families I know. I repeatedly thought, “I don’t have the time to garden, make homemade gifts and learn enough about nature to be a great teacher to my kid.” But what if we created a world where we do have that kind of time? Wylie-Kellermann paints a picture of what the slow work of parenting could make possible — and this picture is what I would call the kingdom of God. This Sweet Earth is a love letter to families and our earth, speaking to the now and not yet, to the possibilities of creation care as they begin in the home. May it be so.
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