Earth Day 2017

I remember the first Earth Day back in 1970. Things seemed so hopeful then -- we could change our ways: recycle! live mindfully! alternative energy!

So, how have things changed? The American Museum of Natural History has put together an interesting little presentation HERE.

 Some bad news -- the global population has doubled -- doubled!  Seas are rising, animal populations are shrinking . . . 

But there's good news too. A lot of the changes have been implemented that have improved air quality, banning DDT has brought the Bald Eagle back from the brink of extinction, banning lead in gas has improved health . . . changing our ways can make a difference. 

Now, alas, our government is in the hands of Big Business, of climate change deniers, of those who wield alternative facts so that their corporate masters can increase their profits. 

What can we expect from a POTUS whose experience of Nature is through the windows of his air-conditioned penthouse high above Central Park,  . . . or on the chemically manicured and water-guzzling greens of his golf courses. . . or vicariously through  his sons as they go on yet another big game hunt?  

So far, his record is pretty dismal. His Cabinet choices . . . his proposed budget . . . as The Guardian puts it, the Trump presidency is a disaster for the planet.

I've long maintained that humankind is the greatest natural disaster of all. The difference is that we have the power to control such disastrous behavior . . .but will we?

Earth Day 2016

 

 Every  day is Earth Day around here, especially in the Spring.

John did the tilling and I've been hand weeding the asparagus and my creepy garden, as well as pruning back the black pussy willow that was making too much shade.

There was enough asparagus to provide a gracious plenty for supper. 

And I had seeds to plant -- look at that nifty radish!

A young toad kept an eye on me to make sure I didn't forget the purple carrots . . .

And the asparagus takes a bow, topped with red bell pepper sauteed in butter and lemon juice and accompanied by potatoes with dill and chicken roasted with rosemary and lemon.

Love that first harvest!

Earth Day

With thanks to the mother of us all . . .

For sun and wind . . .

For patterned leaves . . .

For clouds and mountains, trees and sky . . .

For water flowing clean and free . . .

For blooming meadows . . .

For yellow, that brightens the world . . .

For all creatures, slow . . .

And fast . . .

For flowers . . . freely given . . .

Nature's grace notes . . .

And, of course, kittens.

 

Earth Day

This seems, to me, a suitable song for the day.

FERN HILL by Dylan Thomas

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

And here's a web album with pictures of Earthly Delights.