What does it mean to have a moral core? It means that even in the face of unprecedented challenges we keep going, with as much dignity as we can muster, brought to us by the strength of our values. Motherliners insist on hope over despair, because despair is best friends with injustice. That’s why we aren’t giving up, and in fact are determined to take multiple PATHs together each year. A PATH is a Purposeful Action To Heal. What gets healed is the planet. When the planet gets healed, so do our bodies. Turns out that works the other way as well. When we heal our bodies we heal our planet.
The Motherline, through incredible leadership by the Trash and Tire Queen Cindy Palacios, just successfully removed 4,200 tires from our watersheds through an intensely collaborative, community-connected effort. That number is massive, and also a teeny tiny dent in the global need for tire clean up. But, we keep going, one PATH at a time.
Tires generate 6 million tons of particles a year, with 200,000 tons ending up in the ocean. Recent research indicates that tires emit even more pollution than the tailpipes of gasoline cars! Moreover, tire emissions from electric vehicles are 20 percent higher than those from fossil fuel vehicles, because EVs weigh more and have greater torque which wears tires out faster. So even as we are marketed to do better by buying Electric Vehicles, in some ways we are doing worse – which could be demoralizing. So far, tires have completely escaped any kind of regulation. “You’ve got a chemical cocktail in these tires that no one really understands and is kept highly confidential by tire manufacturers.” said Nick Molden, Ceo of Emissions Analytics. But still, the tire market is only growing.
Knowledge like this can make any mother want to bury her head in her hands and moan. Watch Netflix for days. Hit the peanut butter. Stay under the pile of laundry. That is why The Motherline is here. That is why we made an annual Tire Recycling Day. That is why we keep fighting. We collectively keep a hand out toward each other, anchored by the full force of us. We won’t fall into the raging river of despair, because so many mothers connect us into the earth. We want to engage each other in creating beauty, in creating cultures of repair and restoration. That’s why we program PATHS that fight for our planet, giving us humans a chance to fight for all the rest…because we can’t fight without health, and we don’t have health without clean air, water and soil.
It seems like things only get worse until you are on the line. Then, it is impossible to not feel the momentum. Our line is a braid made of spider silk, which by weight is stronger than steel. Our line weaves a web extending far and wide. Together is better. We make the Motherline together. So- we are better off than we have been in a long, long time. For each of you who join us, our power is increased by the magnitude of an entire human life. That’s how we find hope. Every single day.