Celebrate Earth Day on April 22, 2008

earth day was the one day for the past few months that I forgot to have cloth bags in the car! :0(

However, as we have always recycled (for almost 30 years!)and continue to do so, this is definitely something I believe in.

The first earthday, I was in high school. The events were NOT sanctioned by my high school, but barely tolerated. I am amazed/amused at the radical shift since. In those days, the idea of recycling something instead of pitching it was considered radical, and maybe unAmerican. I remember pitching a plastic bottle from a juice drink in a bin to be recycled and feeling rebellious and slightly conspicuous!

I expected to be going out to events with friends, but we did not, as they were busy.

jkd

Eric and I took advantage of the opportunity Earth Day gave us to teach Audrey a little more about recycling. Eric took Audrey to a special recycling center we have near campus and dropped off some batteries we’d been saving up. Then they made a run to the local public library and dropped off two big bags of books for donation. After that, it was a trip to Goodwill to donate some clothes and shoes. Once it got dark out, I made a point to keep all lights that weren’t absolutely necessary turned off. I think we could have done more, but it snuck up on us so I think this was a pretty good effort.

Today, with the help of my buddy, Gabe, I worked in my garden, getting it ready to plant (hopefully tomorrow).

Then we went for a walk downtown, stopping at the library (Gabe got a book about planting seeds), the post office, and the lumber yard (to get some scrap lumber for Gabe).

We looked for trash to pick up, but we didn’t find any. We did find a nail in the street, which we picked up and threw away, so someone wouldn’t end up with a flat tire.

It’s spring in Kansas, so we saw a lot of pretty flowers along the way, especially tulips, and daffodils, plus redbud and pear trees in bud.

Later on, we saw J riding her bike home from school.

I was thinking earlier today that the chief bit of faith that encourages me as I keep trying all of these little baby steps is the idea of “action at a distance”. A lot of people believe that the actions they could take won’t really matter so they don’t bother to take them in the first place. They don’t believe in paying it forward or good karma. Add to that that we don’t understand the mysterious mechanisms that put food on our table or clothes on our backs, even when we think we do. I grew up in the south and my mom and her siblings picked cotton as a summer job. I thought I knew something about cotton, but I sure didn’t know how much pesticides are used on it [1/3 a pound for every pound of cotton] or how far it all gets shipped to make me a simple t-shirt. Egypt to China to the US: that’s the kind of vacation I’d love to take, but that’s a bit far for my clothes.

Action at a distance. I don’t know where I picked that phrase up, but I seriously believe that every little decision I make can be made better and greener if I just turn my attention to it for a second. I do as well as I can. I know that my carbon footprint is higher than my neighbors because all those air miles add up, but at least I know that’s a luxury. I worry more about the things that I do that are accidental and careless. Ignorance isn’t a good excuse as far as I’m concerned. It’s a tough road and I can’t let it overwhelm me, but asking questions and making better choices is worth it. Even the little things are worth trying. I once thought that CFLs were ugly and bringing my own tote bag wouldn’t make a whit of difference, but now they’re the norm for me.

1. participate in a CSA
2. generally buy/drink no bottled or canned water or soda
3. reuse many plastic bags (some many times)
4. compost
5. buy organic milk, bananas, eggs, & often other organic items
6. commute on public transport
7. live within walking distance of church, post office, small grocery stores, UPS, several restaurants that we frequent
8. (usually) take a cloth hand towel & napkin to work
9. at home, print most stuff on used paper
10. use only cloth napkins at home (unless we’re having some kind of huge party)
11. recycle conscientiously
12. use mostly CFL lightbulbs
13. use each of my purses till it wears out
14. (usually) take cloth bags to grocery store
15. drive a 1995 Civic that gets 30-50 mpg depending on conditions
16. wash all clothes in cold water (works just as well!)

1. sign many, many petitions and letters to influence public policy
2. fight actively against U.S. trade agreements, since the current model is devastating to the environment (among its many weaknesses)

Will come back to add more later! Gotta run and catch my train.

1. write poems about humans’ relationship to the earth

Tonight was my ongoing poetry workshop, & I took a rant (did you know that is considered a legitimate poetry genre? love it!) I had written over a period of weeks, about the global market & how it has us all in thrall. I wasn’t sure how people would respond, but I was delighted when the group moved on from commenting on the poem’s imagery to discussing the content, asking about terms, & identifying with the concerns the poem expressed.

It was a great way to celebrate Earth Day.

There is a part of a Hindu prayer, addressing the Earth,
“paad sparshye kshamaswa me”
which (very roughly) means,

“Forgive me, Earth, for putting my feet on you daily, you support me as I walk.”

Thank you Earth! Happy Earth Day everyone!

Going to grab a bike off my flatmate to make the trip to work tonight, and I’m going to buy my lunch from the organic, world-something shop.

Also going to skip my daily coffee until I find out whether it is fairtrade. I found out that you actually have to ask for it at costa’s because they do non-fairtrade as standard, but my local only provides one type. Will investigate today.

Hmmmm any suggestions for what else I can do?

going to only eat raw natural foods for the day, and maybe treat myself to an organic smoothie. hmm what else?