Earth Day, my favorite day of the year
Today is my favorite day of the year -- Earth Day.
Mother
Earth was kind enough to give presents -- a gentle rain shower that
turned our Arkansas back yard into a rain forest. The sun is shining
now. Like all females, Mother Earth is prone to changing her mind. As I
look out the window into the woods, droplets of rain on the still new
leaves sparkle as the warm sun caresses them. The landscape shimmers as
if dressed in sequins. Thank you Mother Earth. The effect is
spectacular.
Almost thirty years ago on this day,
I experienced a kind of environmental awakening that has forever
changed how I see and think about things. This new kind of spirituality
inspires deeper thought, a kind of peripheral vision that takes in new
dimensions, and a sense of connection to all living things.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it
hitched to everything else in the Universe," said John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, who was born
on this day.
That quote has been my favorite
since I first heard it. Connections are not always clear. Sometimes they
are difficult to discern, but we must not be blinded by the obvious.
On
that day so long ago, I walked with a group of other nature lovers
along a trail. It was a time when "Save the Earth" was a popular
slogan. I was disturbed about oil spills, killing dolphins in tuna nets,
too much plastic that never degrades, landfills overflowing with trash
that could be recycled into useful products, and the very future of the
only planet we can call home. But as I walked the trail, in the forest
remnant that had been largely untouched since it was carved out by
glaciers hundreds of thousands of years ago, I realized that humans
aren't able to save the earth any more than they can affect it. Mother
Earth will save herself, even if it is at our expense. I fear for humans
who totally miss the point. The only thing that man's work will destroy
is man.
I'm saddened that little has been
accomplished in the past 20 years. And I am frustrated -- no angry -- at
recent political attempts to reverse protections of the environment.
Even
though I'm unhappy that there must be legal efforts to thwart man's
destructive behavior against himself, it is too important not to be
supportive since not everybody gets it. My hope for the environmental
future of mankind is that more people realize the connections.
...reprinted from 2010 but still relevant today
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