​When we first enter the world, our families embrace us, cradling us in their arms. My autoethnographic work describes kinship from the vantage point of an adopted child. This reflection guided me to an understanding of a relational approach to living on Earthship. Through the resolution process, writing to transform my relations, my perceptions evolved as my metamorphosis enfolded. And as my perceptions were transformed through the walkthrough, on the “medicine wheel of life”, I was able to behold a transformed image of Earthship. I saw how the Earth is a sacred container, holding us together.
 
Our Alpine chalet holds together our family in a “holding environment” that allows us to live a lifestyle that values the international relations we have cultivated while living in a ski tribe on the mountain. We ski, hike, make good family meals, play the piano, and enjoy the comfort of our home. In the summer we decorate the balconies with geranium pots and hanging baskets. Our home is filled with special objects and books from our relatives that remind us of our family lineage. Our chalet has provided us with a beautiful lifeplace where Angelo and I have raised our children.
 
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit Priest and scientist wrote about the Noosphere. His vision of the evolutionary process described an awakening of planetary mind. The growing level of awareness that we are experiencing individually as well as the increased connectivity that we are developing globally, can be understood through the concept of the Noosphere.
 
As we move towards more “glovircal” ways of living-global and local or “glocal”, connected by virtual interconnectedness, we must find ways to develop the vitality of our lifeplace. Our relationships shape us in numerous ways. As we increase our connectivity on a global scale, we become more aware of our oneness. Dr. Lazlo refers to this historical period as the Akashic Age, an emerging new paradigm that underscores our interconnectedness. We can use this period of global crisis as a catalyst to activate driving forces as we engage in the conflict resolution process.
 
Storying is a way to connect and reinforce our relationships. Earth-human relationships are fundamental for our survival as we are facing Anthropocene or the 6th phase of extinction.  Our ability to consciously guide and shape our relatedness will allow us to home in to a bright future, living in/on Earthship. As we connect to our inner compass, we can steer Earthship towards a flourishing future. Hear the call to activate the homing in mechanism as we lift ourselves and our planet up to experience ever more coherent ways of flourishing on Earth.
 
The Human Energy website offers information about the Noosphere and a film series that reinforces our shared evolutionary process and experience of emergence. Come sit around the camp fire and listen to this Third Story.

​Human Energy website:

Stewardship is a fundamental concept, referring to how we are stewards of what we have been given.  Stewards must take care of their land and organizations. Stewardship also evokes the responsibility that we have to pass on all that was ours during our lifetime to the next generation. Intergenerational responsibility is at the core of stewardship. We must take good care of all we have been bequeathed. In Switzerland there is a way to manage the land referred to as the commons. The pastures, mountain glaciers and water sources, ski slopes and pastures are all part of the commons that are managed by the “bourgeoisie”.

​My husband Angelo’s grandparents, Catherine and Emile, were stewards of the land, the pastures and their herds. Catherine was the village midwife and cared for all the women in Isérables when they gave birth. She also cared for her large family of 12 children.
 
This unique Alpine culture is our inheritance. Not far away is the Great Saint Bernard Pass and Hospice that cared for the travelers walking over the pass, a historic metaphor for hospitality. The traditions of our region provide interesting examples of stewardship and caring for the commons.
 
Living in harmony with our bioregions entails tending to the gardens, the pastures, the herds, as well as the wellbeing of families and communities. The quality of the land gives rise to our ability to flourish. Even the microbes in the land influence our health and wellbeing. These connections are increasingly understood in biology and medicine. “Old Friends” or microbes allow us to keep our internal balance, influencing our immunoregulation.
 
Women in the village of Isérables wore a traditional costume until the 1980’s when the mountain villages became more accessible. However, some women still choose to wear their costumes. Women is Switzerland only got the right to vote in the 1971, however women in the Upper-Valais were an important example of progressive women’s suffrage in 1957. Today, women continue to seek more fulfilling and egalitarian ways to participate in society, holding up their half of the sky.
 
Isis, the Egyptian Goddess stood for motherhood. In my name Susie Riva, you can play with the letters, rearranging them to read Isis Rises. My name resonates with the rising feminine energies that are so needed in today’s world. Let us rise together, co-constructing a Culture of Care for our Common Home.
 
Here is an article about our “Old Friends”:

Here is an article about the commons:

Here is a link to an article about the Valais: