The Furious Spinner

As I've said every Earth Day, every day is Earth Day to us. I worship the ground I walk upon. And the ground you walk upon. (And happiness is a smaller eco-print.) Bill McKibben is hopeful that this Earth Day really means something. I think we need entrepreneurs. I think we need a revolution in how we live and what we do. I don't believe politicians are going to fix global warming or any of our other environmental problems. I think it'll have to come from the people rising up and forcing the politicians to enact legislation; it'll have to be the people rising up and forcing businesses to change their dirty ways; it'll have to be the people rising up and changing how we live.

How "green" is your household? Are you still using toxic cleaners? Are you still using any kind of pesticides? Are you still using chemicals on your lawn? How often do you drive? How often do you fly? When you make "green" decisions, are you doing research yourself or just leaving it up to others? (For instance, we hear that we're supposed to change all our incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent. Yes, that saves energy, but fluorescent bulbs use mercury. We already have a desperate problem with mercury in our water supply and in the ground from mercury—mercury from dentist offices, broken thermometers, cars, and fluorescent lights.) We have to understand the consequences of our decisions. I try to know the facts, and then make my own decision. (Sometimes I learn the facts and pull out my hair.)

Today we went out into the woods. We communed with Standing People who are hundreds of years old. And we ooh and aahed over deer's head orchids that were a few hours old. Tiny buds on some riparian trees looked like tiny lights at the end of the branches—as though stars were about to blossom out all over. Down below, white water rushed by us, saying something in water language. Something that sounded like love, love, love.

Today, as every day, I do the Earth Dance.

May We All Dance Together in Beauty!

Labels: nature, sustainability

All photographs and written material copyright © 2003-2008 by Kim Antieau unless otherwise indicated. May not be used without permission.