Wendell Berry and Earth Day 2018

Today I am grateful for planet Earth and the joy I get from being outside in our natural world. I appreciate the beautiful day we had yesterday and the promise of new life and green that is now imminent.

Today is Earth Day 2018. It began in 1970 in the United States, thanks to the efforts of many, including Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. In 1990, it went global. Today, millions of people around the globe take part in activities to mark the day and to continue actions to help preserve our planet.

In ways, we have come a long way since 1970, with creation of the EPA and the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Yet, in ways we continue to do significant harm to our fragile home and rush blindly forward in the name of progress.

So Wendell Berry's words are very fitting today:

"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope."

Berry, now in his 80's, is dubbed the farmer-philospher. His writings and his life's dedication to sustainable farming honor the land and the environment it is up to each of us to protect and renew. 

"What I stand for is what I stand on." These are also words from Berry, and words that stop me in my tracks. How often do I pause to consider the stable ground when I step outside? How often do I pause and take in the morning light, fresh air, changing seasons?  More often than many people, but not as much as I could.

And more importantly, am I, are we each, doing what we can to take care of our planet?  I would like to think I am pretty good at recycling, conserving, reducing.  But there is more I can do. One of the key focus areas this year is to reduce plastic pollution. Plastics do so much harm in so many ways, yet we love the ease and convenience they provide. We can't have it both ways.

I pledge to add this effort to my other daily ones when it comes to reducing plastic use:  I will stop using plastic utensils when I eat my lunch at work. I can take utensils from home daily and bring them back home to wash. That is my small contribution to the efforts here. 

Living gratefully for me is inexorably tied to my love for nature and the outdoors. I believe my minor efforts matter, just like I believe a brief pause matters. Living gratefully means living respectfully; of nature, of life, of others, of self.