Friday, April 22, 2011

Earth Day

 
Earth Day -- a  time to be thankful for the beauty and bounty Earth provides her children ...

 
From buckeye blooms to bustling biddies... 
The lavish fragrance of romantic sweeps of wisteria ...
And maybe it's time to think about our impact on this great mother of us all. 

When we were planting potatoes, look what turned up. That little piece of bright blue plastic below is a tab from a paper diaper  and I'm embarassed to say I was the litterer -- back in 1973. At that time we were camping out in the barn  just above the potato field with our not quite one year old and cloth diapers seemed pretty much out of the question.
The plastic is dirty but (unlike parents and baby) un-aged. It's good for anothe thirty-something years. It's not going anywhere.
Now think about all the plastic that doesn't get recycled but instead ends up in our landfills, our waterways, our roadsides, our beaches, our oceans.

It's enough to make a Mother cry.
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10 comments:

Pat in east TN said...

It is scary, some of the things us humans have made to make our lives easier, but that will never go away.

Brian Miller said...

yes it is.

we treat it more like a garbage bin than a home....

the wisteria is beautiful...i can almost smell it...

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

It is scary how long plastic lasts. Actually unbelievable. I agree with Pat that it makes our lives easier, but with what consequences?

We took our cloth bags to the grocery store before it became fashionable and still do. I wish stores in the US would adopt the French ways and require that customers bring their own bags and not offer plastic at all. It probably wouldn't work because as Americans we're a pretty spoiled lot. Oh well, I can always dream.
Sam

Miss_Yves said...

Pity for our earth!
Great tribute with pictures and words full of sense and sensibility!

Elora said...

Oh, Vicki! We're right with you. What a heartfelt post! And, Brian is so right! We are all abusers of our Mother Earth. This can't last.

Thanks, Vicki!

Elora

Suz said...

like an unkind word
plastic remains
untouched
by days

Vicki Lane said...

I was wondering this morning how long it would be before someone suggests using the Grand Canyon as a landfill... and how long it would be before it was filled up and they were building condos on top of it.

Yep, I do the cloth bags thing, Sam. And cloth napkins too. Have done both since the first Earth Day back in the seventies. A small step...

What a good analogy, Suz!

Deanna said...

Your mountains are beautiful.

I'm ashamed of my impact on this beautiful earth we live in and resolve as of this moment to do better.

I'm still beyond jealous of your wisteria!

Darla said...

Beautiful...
Mother Earth will cleanse...but we may not deal well with how She does Her laundry...

Unknown said...

We'll be going down in history as the People of the Age of Plastic. Yuk! Poor mother Earth, and we think we are so clever. Dinosaur dung is a preferable gift to the earth I think!