Back to the Earth (Jason Mraz)

Earth Day has always been near and dear to my heart.  I've written before that I was a sophomore in high school when it was instituted (1970) and, despite the last administration's plans/wishes to systematically undercut/erode all the gains previously in place, we are finding our way back to making environmental concerns a priority.  Even the small things can add up to big things.  I urge you today to make, or continue, a commitment to action:  bring your canvas bags to the grocery store... recycle... walk, bus or bike instead of driving and, if you do drive, carpool... use compact fluorescent light bulbs... turn off lights when you leave a room... brush your teeth with the water off... plant a garden... start and maintain a compost pile... become a locavore (eating as much locally-grown food as possible)... buy minimally-packaged goods to reduce your garbage... follow through on Meatless Monday or, even better, go as vegetarian or vegan as feels comfortable to you.

We are connected to each other as well as to the Earth and all the creatures that are a part of nature, and we must spread the message of that connection, a message that challenges us to heal the Earth for our children (and grandchildren!), and for all on this precious planet. We must envision and work towards a future that will be healthy for all beings as if our lives depended on it. Because, in fact, it does... 🌏

Delighted to read this article this morning!

Biden Will Pledge to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions Nearly in Half:  The president will commit the United States to deep cuts in emissions at an Earth Day summit meeting that starts on Thursday, according to people familiar with the plan.

Also, we here in South Florida can celebrate Earth Day on WLRN-TV (our local PBS station) tonight with:

Extinction: The Facts

9 P.M.

With a million species at risk of extinction, Sir David Attenborough explores how this crisis of biodiversity has consequences for us all, undermining our ability to control our climate and putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases.

Climate Change: The Facts

10 P.M.

Host Sir David Attenborough presents scientific evidence of the impact of global warming. Discover how the latest innovations and technology are posing potential solutions and what we can do to prevent further damage.

Troubled Waters:  A Turtle’s Tale

11 P.M.

In this WLRN original documentary, you'll learn the devastating effects global warming and water pollution have had on the lives of South Florida's most beloved underwater creatures - our sea turtles - and what you can do to help.

Over the weekend I watched Kiss the Ground and Seaspiracy documentaries, both excellent, and highly recommended!

Also, Help the Lorax Plant Trees!  For each copy Barnes & Noble sells in stores and online from 4/1/21 – 4/30/21, Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Penguin Random House will each donate $1 to One Tree Planted.

SONG:  Back to the Earth by Jason Mraz

BOOK: The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here by Hope Jahren 

POEM(S):  Earth Your Dancing Place by May Swenson

Beneath heaven's vault

remember always walking

through halls of cloud

down aisles of sunlight

or through high hedges

of the green rain

walk in the world

highheeled with swirl of cape

hand at the swordhilt

of your pride

Keep a tall throat

Remain aghast at life

Enter each day

as upon a stage

lighted and waiting

for your step

Crave upward as flame

have keenness in the nostril

Give your eyes

to agony or rapture

Train your hands

as birds to be

brooding or nimble

Move your body

as the horses

sweeping on slender hooves

over crag and prairie

with fleeing manes

and aloofness of their limbs

Take earth for your own large room

and the floor of the earth

carpeted with sunlight

and hung round with silver wind

for your dancing place

Speaking Tree by Joy Harjo

I had a beautiful dream I was dancing with a tree.

                                                                   —Sandra Cisneros

Some things on this earth are unspeakable:

Genealogy of the broken—

A shy wind threading leaves after a massacre,

Or the smell of coffee and no one there—

Some humans say trees are not sentient beings,

But they do not understand poetry—

Nor can they hear the singing of trees when they are fed by

Wind, or water music—

Or hear their cries of anguish when they are broken and bereft—

Now I am a woman longing to be a tree, planted in a moist, dark earth

Between sunrise and sunset—

I cannot walk through all realms—

I carry a yearning I cannot bear alone in the dark—

What shall I do with all this heartache?

The deepest-rooted dream of a tree is to walk

Even just a little ways, from the place next to the doorway—

To the edge of the river of life, and drink—

I have heard trees talking, long after the sun has gone down:

Imagine what would it be like to dance close together

In this land of water and knowledge. . .

To drink deep what is undrinkable.

QUOTE:  "We are called to assist the earth, to heal her wounds and in the process, heal our own – indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder." ~ Wangari Maathai

I Love Trash (Oscar the Grouch)

I well recall celebrating the first Earth Day (April 22, 1970) in my sophomore year of high school, when they educated us, along with setting up a recycling center... and I have been an advocate of the environment ever since.  I've been using canvas bags for grocery shopping and reusable containers for leftovers for decades, and my family can attest to my fanaticism about recycling.  About five years ago, I asked them for a composter for Mother's Day, but that never happened and now, with our move to a smaller space, we wouldn't have space for it anyway... :-(

My friend NW has had one for a few years, and I asked her the other day if I could collect compostable material at my house, and donate it to her... and she lovingly said Yes!  I bought a small tabletop bin, in which I've been collecting the obligatory banana peels, eggshells (my husband's), coffee grounds and filters, apple cores, vegetable scraps, etc. and my first delivery is today (hoping to do it weekly).  It's not a lot, but it's something, and it makes me feel better that this stuff will not end up in a landfill, but instead in a "compost stew" that will eventually nourish Nancy's garden.  Win/win!

SONG:  I Love Trash by Oscar the Grouch

BOOK:  Organic Book of Compost, 2nd Revised Edition: Easy and Natural Techniques to Feed Your Garden (IMM Lifestyle Books) Handbook to Sustainable, Low-Cost Methods, Community Composting, & More, with FAQs by Pauline Pears

Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth by Mary McKenna Siddals, Ashley Wolff (Illustrator)

POEM:  The Good, the Bad and the Inconvenient by Marge Piercy

Gardening is often a measured cruelty:
what is to live and what is to be torn
up by its roots and flung on the compost
to rot and give its essence to new soil.

It is not only the weeds I seize.
go down the row of new spinach—
their little bright Vs crowding—
and snatch every other, flinging

their little bodies just as healthy,
just as sound as their neighbors
but judged, by me, superfluous.
We all commit crimes too small

for us to measure, the ant soldiers
we stomp, whose only aim was to
protect, to feed their vast family.
It is I who decide which beetles

are "good" and which are "bad"
as if each is not whole in its kind.
We eat to live and so do they,
the locusts, the grasshoppers,

the flea beetles and aphids and slugs.
By bad I mean inconvenient. Nothing
we do is simple, without consequence
and each act is shadowed with death.

QUOTE:  "A program to make municipal composting of food and yard waste mandatory and then distributing the compost free to area farmers would shrink America's garbage heap, cut the need for irrigation and fossil-fuel fertilizers in agriculture, and improve the nutritional quality of the American diet." ~ Michael Pollan

Days Like This (Van Morrison)

What a difference a day makes, indeed.  Yesterday found me in a very sad place, emotionally as well as physically.  My sciatica was really acting up, and I cried myself to sleep, feeling that I was destined to live with chronic pain and/or addiction (am I already?) to Aleve.  This morning I awoke with a fresh perspective, even more determined to use these very long days to take better care of myself.

Poured my first cup of coffee, and went out onto the balcony, where it was only 74 degrees (10 degrees cooler than yesterday morning at that time!).  Delighted that it was a perfect walking day, and I'd be foolish to squander it.  While the caffeine slowly took effect, I googled additional exercises as well as side effects of naproxen (which I have already taken for more consecutive days than is recommended), which scared the sh*t out of me.  I have become complacent about relying on medicine for relief, which must stop.  Back to alternating heat and ice, as well as yoga.  

Ten minutes of gentle stretching, then a lovely stroll around the golf course (where this much- and long-loved Van Morrison song popped up), then home to more stretching.  Get it together, Susan.  To paraphrase A League of Their Own, "there's no crying in a global pandemic"...  :-)

P.S.  Happy 50th Anniversary of Earth Day!  I was a sophomore in high school on April 22, 1970, and I remember this being a big deal.  We even started a recycling center.  I still consider myself a steward of the earth, and am very conscious of the role I play to make, and keep, this planet healthy and sustainable.


SONG:  Days Like This by Van Morrison

BOOK:  Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story by Bess Kalb

POEM:  Days of Future Dwell by Samuel Amadon

A dance professor around
her white house, which
windowed, countered,
surfaced with keys, bags,

a listing a broker found
he was proud to sell.
As grass is covered
with grass that's mown,

why not be happy again
to find your schedule in
your hand, and all things
well. The squirrels leapt

off the branch that fell.
The technical part with
all the pieces lining up,
or already there, at work:

a something to do with
why I pick the tack
from the floor, why I
finger it like a shell. Say

the songs get longer and
the days--all of it--you
can hear it all coming,
if you've tied to it a bell.

QUOTE:  "People make me out to be this super strong woman, but I have my tough days just like anyone else." ~ Rosie Perez

Every Grain of Sand (Bob Dylan)

Happy Earth Day!

I facilitated our UU church service this past Sunday, on the topic of our seventh principle: the interdependent web of life - below are excerpts from the sermon:

Springtime – the season of rebirth – is the perfect time to Celebrate Earth Sunday as humans have celebrated the bounty of Earth since ancient times. Everything we need for life comes from this Earth. There is no other source. So on this special occasion, let us “celebrate the web of life . . . seeing the divinity in every living thing.”

Attending to our relationship with Earth, and our responsibility for its care is crucial in this time as Earth suffers under the burden of careless human activities. And in gratitude for the beauty and bounty of this precious planet, let us also commit ourselves to “protect the lives of all that share the glory of the Earth.”

If we pay attention, the Earth will teach us gratitude instead of grasping, simple joy instead of compulsive consumption, openness to life instead of a driven (and fruitless) attempt to control everything. Thoughtlessness needs to give way to awareness, arrogance to compassion, addiction to balanced calm. A deep and abiding connection with nature can be that antidote to the compulsiveness and stresses of a life spent chasing the materialism of our post-modern American Dream.

As Unitarian Universalists, we profess to believe in the interdependent web – the unity of all existence. And we acknowledge that we are a part of it. Not outside of it. Not separate from it. And not subject to a different set of rules, or consequences. The evidence for its Truth is found in science, and also art and spirituality. We feel the interdependence in our relationships with each other, and our relationships with non-human creatures, and specific places. Our consciousness of these connections has to influence the way we live. How can we allow ourselves to use more of the Earth’s gifts than we need, knowing that our grandchildren and future generations will not have what they need for survival? How can we let our greed get in the way of our relationships?

We Americans suffer from a “Gratitude Deficit Disorder” – we keep trying to make ourselves happy through more stuff, but it never works, so we have to grab for even more stuff. It’s a never ending escalation, this addiction to stuff. We must break the cycle, remembering that happiness comes from relationships, connections, satisfaction of worthwhile endeavors.

[ Here... two long-time members at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ft. Lauderdale shared their own personal experiences and relationship with the Earth. ]

In the final analysis, to love the Earth is to participate in the circles of life with respect and compassion. It is to live, work, and play in communities... communities that celebrate our interconnectedness and strengthen our ties... with one another, with the land, and with all of nature. We must deepen our sense of place, and take time to watch, and listen, and absorb the wisdom of the Earth.

Our longing for a healthy future for all beings may seem too good to be true when everything in our world conspires against our efforts to reach that vision. But hope assumes that, in the end, all will be well. That all must be well! Hope is not based on facts. Hope is a choice built on the faith that we have the imagination and creativity to build such a future. And that we are, in fact, building it.

In addition to the suggestions made by F and K... we urge you today to make, or continue, a commitment to action: bring your canvas bags to the grocery store... recycle... walk, bus or bike instead of driving and, if you do drive, carpool... use compact fluorescent light bulbs... turn off lights when you leave a room... brush your teeth with the water off... plant a garden... start and maintain a compost pile... become a locavore (eating as much locally-grown food as possible)... buy minimally-packaged goods to reduce your garbage... go on a low carbon diet... support carbon offsets... take the Ten Tree Challenge, which is listed on the UU Ministry for Earth website, which was a great resource for this service...

The principle of the interconnected web reminds us that we are connected to each other as well as to the Earth and all the creatures that are a part of nature. And we must spread the message of our that connection, a message that challenges us to heal the Earth for our children, and for all of Beings on this precious planet. We must all envision and work towards a future that will be healthy for all beings as if our lives depended on it. Because, in fact, it does.

May we be among those bringing forth that vision. And may that vision come to be our reality.

P.S. Have you seen Google's logo today?

SONG: Every Grain of Sand by Bob Dylan

BOOK: Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings by John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming

POEM: To Begin With, the Sweet Grass (excerpt) by Mary Oliver

1.

Will the hungry ox stand in the field and not eat
of the sweet grass?
Will the owl bite off its own wings?
Will the lark forget to lift its body in the air or
forget to sing?
Will the rivers run upstream?

Behold, I say - behold
the reliability and the finery and the teachings
of this gritty earth gift.

2.

Eat bread and understand comfort.
Drink water, and understand delight.
Visit the garden where the scarlet trumpets
are opening their bodies for the hummingbirds
who are drinking the sweetness, who are
thrillingly gluttonous.

For one thing leads to another.
Soon you will notice how stones shine underfoot.
Eventually tides will be the only calendar you believe in.

And someone's face, whom you love, will be as a star
both intimate and ultimate,
and you will be both heart-shaken and respectful.
And you will hear the air itself, like a beloved, whisper:
oh, let me, for a while longer, enter the two
beautiful bodies of your lungs.

7.

What I loved in the beginning, I think, was mostly myself.
Never mind that I had to, since somebody had to.
That was many years ago.
Since then I have gone out from my confinements,
through with difficulty.
I mean the ones that thought to rule my heart.
I cast them out, I put them on the mush pile.
They will be nourishment somehow (everything is nourishment
somehow or another).
And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned,
I have become younger.

And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.

QUOTE: “To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe – to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it – is a wonder beyond words. Gratitude for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions, the hallmark of the mystic, the source of all true art. Furthermore, it is a privilege to be alive in this time when we can choose to take part in the self-healing of our world.” ~ Joanna Macy

Everything Green (Christine Kane)

From wikipedia.org:

Today is Earth Day, founded as an environmental teach-in in the late 1960s, and celebrated in many countries each year on April 22.

In September 1969, at a conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. Senator Nelson first proposed the nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."

Five months before the first April 22 Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the rising tide of environmental events::

"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...." Senator Nelson also hired Denis Hayes as the coordinator.

Each year, the April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years. At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. But Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.

On April 22, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his youthful staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day on April 22 in 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. The April 22 Earth Day in 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 rolled around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., USA.

Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy. Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York.

Founded by the organizers of the first April 22 Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect change in local, national, and global policies. Earth Day Network’s international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns every year.

For years, we've been celebrating Dar Williams' birthday with social actions and, since her birthday is April 19, the last few have been ecologically-centered - below is my 2008 pledge:

Hey, Dar -

Here I am, one day after your birthday, very Joni-Mitchell-like...

"I'm always running behind the time

Just like this train

Shaking into town

With the brakes complaining..."

...and I see that "Dar's Birthday 2008" pledge is now closed - ack!

However, I'm hoping this note will somehow be posted somewhere, however belatedly - I was, as always, trying to find the perfect gift (in the form of action) I could pro-offer for your special day... and the following appeared as I logged on to my local public radio station website earlier this afternoon:

"Make a $50 contribution to support your favorite WLRN programs and our partner American Forests will plant five trees in Hal Scott Preserve and Park near Orlando. Make a $100 contribution and ten trees will be planted. By giving now, your contribution does twice the good. It pays for the great public radio programs you listen to on WLRN and it helps restore balance to the eco-system in an important Florida natural resource."

Hal Scott Longleaf Pine Planting Project

Count me in for $100 (that's 10 trees!) - Happy Birthday, Dar...

P.S. Happy Birthday (today) to FM as well... :-)

SONG: Everything Green by Christine Kane

BOOK: Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living by Doug Fine

POEM: Enriching the Earth by Wendell Berry

To enrich the earth I have sowed clover and grass
to grow and die. I have plowed in the seeds
of winter grains and various legumes,
their growth to be plowed in to enrich the earth.

I have stirred into the ground the offal
and the decay of the growth of past seasons
and so mended the earth and made its yield increase.

All this serves the dark. Against the shadow
of veiled possibility my workdays stand
in a most asking light. I am slowly falling
into the fund of things. And yet to serve the earth,
not knowing what I serve, gives a wideness
and a delight to the air, and my days
do not wholly pass. It is the mind's service,
for when the will fails so do the hands
and one lives at the expense of life.

After death, willing or not, the body serves,
entering the earth. And so what was heaviest
and most mute is at last raised up into song.

QUOTE: "It is imperative to maintain portions of the wilderness untouched so that a tree will rot where it falls, a waterfall will pour its curve without generating electricity, a trumpeter swan may float on uncontaminated water - and moderns may at least see what their ancestors knew in their nerves and blood." ~ Bernand De Voto