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20 April 2009
Posted in
Spring Celebrations: Mothers & Mother Earth
So you missed Earth Day? Or, there was no Earth Day celebration organized in your neighbourhood. Or better still, to your credit, you actively celebrated Earth Day AND Earth Hour. But now they are over. Then take it upon yourself to make every day Earth Day.
The calendar need not read April 22nd to give us a reason to honour Mother Earth. Nor must our clock say 8:30 on March 28th (2009), to let us know we should turn off unneeded lights and reduce our electricity consumption. Live intentionally, considering the planet and the effects your actions have on it.
Don’t know what all the fuss is about? Or just want to learn more about why we should help and what we can do to honour Mother Earth on Earth Day and everyday? Delve deeper:
The Awesome Power of Nature
Cycles of flora and fauna; waves in the ocean; the dynamic earth; and the ever-changing sky; the natural ebbs and flows of these and more just scratch the surface to illustrate the awesome power of nature. Mother Earth is powerful. But despite all this power, our planet has become week.
The Inconvenient Truth
It is inconvenient, but true nonetheless, that our planet needs humanity to start on a new course. Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth, delves into details and highlights staggering statistics about the impacts our decisions as a society have had to date and what’s projected if our course is unaltered.
Thought these statistics are somewhat outdated regarding history since the making of the movie, it’s a good place to start for a summary of the global ecologic crisis we face today. It’s scary and embarrassing that we’ve faltered so long on such a reckless course. And now it’s time to start doing something about it.
If you’ve not seen the movie, you can buy it on-line. Then after you’ve seen it, start doing something about it! Live intentionally.
The Geography of Hope
Chris Turner, prize winning Canadian writer and the author of the Geography of Hope, gives us just that: a ray of hope. He gives us many actually.
He cites and explains many greener building approaches and technologies that exist today around the world. He illustrates that the societies where these practises are being employed are not so different from ours and that the sacrifices we might need to make to achieve some of these benefits might not be as great as we may perceive. He explores what can be and challenges us to see how we can replicate some of these existing greener technologies in our communities to improve our day-to-day lives.
It’s time to take care of our planet. It’s time to shed a ray of hope and optimism, he alluded at a recent presentation he made in Halifax, into our ecological crisis. It’s time to read The Geography of Hope to learn ways we can all contribute. And if you are building or renovating, see the Green Renovations section of our Spring Guide.
Earth Day Events
See the Earth Day Clean-ups & Events from the Green Spring Clean section of the guide for a list of Earth Day clean-ups and events. Or join an event on-going in your neighbourhood or school.
If there isn’t an Earth Day event organized in your area, then take the lead and do so yourself! It doesn’t need to be formal. Just grab some friends and pick a spot to clean-up. For a larger scale effort, send an invitation to the local folks in your email address book. Or to create a even bigger impact, put up posters up in tour local school, community center or neighbourhood, (on Forestry Stewardship paper of course) and invite people to a mass clean-up event!
Clean NS coordinates the Great NS Pick-Me-Up Program, sponsored in part by HRM. They provide great on-line resources, as well as kits to help your clean-up be a clean sweep! See MyHRM’s website for more information at www.myhrm.ca/ToolKit/OrganizeaNeighbourhoodCleanUp.php.
So get out there and clean-up! Live intentionally in an effort to celebrate Mother Earth in everything we do. Make every day Earth Day.
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