A brief moment of calm
SEDONA, AZ — A panel of sustainability experts confirmed this week that Earth’s ecosystems could rebound rapidly if humans focused less on reducing consumption and more on achieving emotional comfort with their current lifestyles.
Speaking at a three-day eco-wellness retreat titled “Harmony: Reimagining Our DNA for a Regenerative Tomorrow,” organizers explained that the primary obstacle to planetary recovery is not overpopulation, habitat destruction, or fossil-fuel dependence, but humanity’s unresolved discomfort with limits.
“For too long, people have associated sustainability with sacrifice,” said retreat facilitator and former branding consultant Lila Moonwater, addressing participants seated barefoot in a hand-holding circle. “True ecological enlightenment begins when we release the psychic trauma of restraint. The planet doesn’t require material restraint; it requires a deeper spiritual connection to extraction.”
Participants were guided through a series of meditations designed to dissolve “scarcity-based chromosomes” and awaken what facilitators described as a “post-material consciousness,” allowing restraint to emerge organically without requiring anyone to actually consume less, travel less, or reproduce less.
“I used to think harmony meant changing behavior,” said attendee Kevin R., 42, pausing between breathwork and plant-based charcuterie. “Now I realize it’s more about intention. The problem isn’t overshoot. It’s that we’re overshooting without enough love. If my intention is balance, my lifestyle will eventually align. Probably.”
The retreat culminated in a ceremonial rewriting of DNA, during which participants symbolically replaced “extractive genes” with affirmations like abundance, alignment, and psychic consent, including a guided exercise in asking the Earth for permission before purchasing new products.
Organizers confirmed that discussions of population growth, ecological overshoot, and biophysical limits were intentionally excluded from the agenda, citing concerns that such topics could “disrupt the container” and interfere with collective enlightenment. One session description simply read: “Extinction, but ethically.”
“At the end of the day, the planet doesn’t need fewer people or less consumption,” Moonwater explained. “It needs us to feel better about ourselves. All ecological limits can be overcome with the correct values.”
Attendees departed the retreat visibly uplifted, noting that while ecosystems continue to collapse globally, the collective vibe felt noticeably lighter.
Most then climbed into their large SUVs, many adorned with COEXIST decals and rooftop yoga mats, and drove off into the desert, confident that the Earth had received the message psychically.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lyle Lewis is an ecologist and writer exploring deep time, human behavior and the Sixth Mass Extinction. His essays cut through comforting myths to show how plastics, climate, biodiversity loss, and other crises intertwine.
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