Earth Day 2009
<written for the North Renfrew Times>
Earth Day rhymes with birthday. Doesn’t it seem fitting that once a year we should observe the “birthday” of our planet and celebrate her/its endurance and stunning beauty?
While admittedly my 20 years of environmental activism sometimes give rise to sober preaching from a soapbox, that’s not my intent for Earth Day this year.
This year, say I, let’s dispense with lectures and litanies of woe (we all know quite well how serious and numerous the problems are, do we not?) and focus on celebration. The kind of celebration Mother Earth herself might wish us to indulge in.
Let’s look around us and observe the sky…and trees…and birds…and river…and living creatures of all kinds.
Let’s reflect on the fact that every single teeny-tiny thing that happens on our planet is a solar event – it’s true! – and give more than passing thought (and thanks) for the sun’s munificence.
Let’s notice – give thanks for – and celebrate – the air we breathe. We all have to be able to breathe! Trees help us with this, and they also provide us with shade and soak up carbon dioxide, so let’s develop a more than passing acquaintance with all the beautiful trees (and forests) around us.
The ground – the earth itself – supports and feeds us, so let’s reflect on that for a moment as well.
We all know places of stunning natural beauty – places with sea and sky and forest and streams and abundant wildlife. We go to such places (in our case, we live in one!) to rest and recharge our minds and our souls – so let’s be mindful and treat such places with great care (everywhere else too, of course…).
Let’s pause on Earth Day – April 22nd – and take a little time to give thanks for all this wondrous planet of ours lays on for us – 24/7/365 – and that we all too often take entirely for granted.
We might even consider starting each day with the simple phrase (call it a prayer, if you prefer) –“I give thanks for this beautiful Earth, which provides us with all that we need” and see where these few short words might take us, in our thoughts and then, hopefully, our deeds.
For sure, let’s enjoy Earth Day! It’s a stunning, abundant world we inhabit, whatever we may believe about its (and our) origins, purpose and destiny.
If we make sure to celebrate Earth Day in appropriate ways, perhaps then too we’ll think of things we might do to help ensure that she (and we as a species) enjoy many more to come. So – happy (b)Earth Day – and many happy returns!
Note: Earth Day/Week would be a perfect time to check out some great books and films from Deep River Library.
Recommended books: “Blessed Unrest – How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming” (Paul Hawken); “Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic” (Armstrong, Dauncey, Wordsworth); “Depletion and Abundance – Life on the New Home Front or, One Woman’s Solutions to Finding Abundance for Your Family while Coming to Terms with Peak Oil, Climate Change and Hard Times”(Sharon Astyk); “Heat – How to Stop the Planet from Burning” (George Monbiot); “The Daily Planet Book of Cool Ideas – Global Warming and What People Are Doing About It” (Jay Ingram); “Sea Sick” (Alanna Mitchell); “Small is Possible – life in a local economy” (Lyle Estill); “Stormy Weather – 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change” (Guy Dauncey); “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century.”
Recommended Films: ‘Be the Change’; ‘Crisis as Opportunity: Living Better on a Hotter Planet’; ‘The Great Energy Revolution – Practical Solutions to the Climate Crisis and Peak Oil’; ‘The Story of Stuff.’
I’m sure the library staff can recommend other great titles as well!