does Earth Day mean much anymore?

Usually Earth Day passes by as one more day for me...because every day is Earth Day!

Every day, I pick up trash outside

Every day, I tend my gardens outside

Every day, I protect wetlands on my property and encourage diverse native plants to flourish.

Every year, I plants at least one tree (more fruit trees if I can budget it), and let a LOT of native sprout up naturally in my woods.

Every day, I teach my kids about stewarding and conserving the environment.

Every day, I spread permaculture here on permies and elsewhere on the internet.

Every reasonable opportunity, I guide people toward growing food, having less negative impact, and wasting less.

Every day (it feels like!), I mend some clothes or fix some object or maintain something so it lasts longer.

Every day is Earth Day for me.


BUT, back when I didn't have land to steward and didn't know as much, Earth Day felt more important because there were events I could join in on that could help the earth--things I couldn't have easily done without Earth Day events.

My kids school had a two-hour Earth Day event yesterday. Apparently, they, were " making nature journals, identifying natural specimens, learning about macro invertebrates, and much more." We weren't able to make it, because we were still recovering from being sick, but I hear it was really good. My kids learned about conservation today in their Zoology class, and their teacher and some of us parents had some really great discussions.

I'm glad there's Earth Day. A lot of years, I don't even notice it--this year I did. I do think it could be more powerful and policy changing...but I don't know how to make that happen.

The idea occurred to me to organise a celebration for Earth Day this year. I made a poster, made some copies to hang at a few places, scanned it and shared it digitally here and there. On purpose I did not write place and time on the poster, but only my e-mail for more info. So I would know who was interested to come.


Earth Day poster in Dutch

One of my friends reacted quickly that she was interested. Another asked me in person for some info, but did not say she would come. And that was all.

So finally we had a nice little Earth Day celebration with two persons. In the permaculture garden in the park. Each of us brought something to eat and drink for the 'pot luck'. And each of us brought the materials for an 'earth friendly activity'. We wrote some poems (matching this day) on pieces of old bed sheets (and hung those at the fence, in clear view for passers-by).  Then we made 'seed bombs'. And then we had our meal.

Two photos of our little Earth Day celebration.


Poems and Earth Day banner hanging on the fence of the permaculture garden in the park.


Making seed bombs

Earth Day Ode To Dirt

Dear dirt, I am sorry I slighted you,

I thought that you were only the background

for the leading characters—the plants

and animals and human animals.

It’s as if I had loved only the stars

and not the sky which gave them space

in which to shine. Subtle, various,

sensitive, you are the skin of our terrain,

you’re our democracy. When I understood

I had never honored you as a living

equal, I was ashamed of myself,

as if I had not recognized

a character who looked so different from me,

but now I can see us all, made of the

same basic materials—

cousins of that first exploding from nothing—

in our intricate equation together. O dirt,

help us find ways to serve your life,

you who have brought us forth, and fed us,

and who at the end will take us in

and rotate with us, and wobble, and orbit.

~Sharon Olds

(1947 to pres., Poet, 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winner)

You all are at another level. Earth Day could be adding one new extra eco-friendly habit so it gives some challenge.

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.

~Wendell Berry

(1934 to pres., American Poet)

Earth Day has never carried any special meaning for me because, like Nicole, every day is earth day for me.

John F Dean wrote:Earth Day has never carried any special meaning for me because, like Nicole every day is earth day for me.

That's where I've been for a long time now but at 20 for the first organized earth day...and with all of the eye opening information coming out those years I really thought things were in motion in a sustainable direction.  

My cynicism set in in the eighties, when I thought, damn, where'd everybody go?
Soon got over that  

and we've continued to do our best these last fifty years in order to have little impact on the planet, a very small footprint.

This site has given me so much hope...I love hearing what younger generations are doing towards a better world.

Every day is Earth day, to me, too - but, I try to reach out on social media a bit more blatantly, on the observed Earth Day...

Hi Judith,

Indeed, I was shocked when I first found this site.  I never realized there was such a thriving community…. Especially involving the number of younger people. Frankly. I felt the movement was dying back in the 80s. Far too many of the conventional publications were either gone or gone heavily commercial.

John,
We have a friend who for years, whenever we saw him, said...
"the house is on fire and nobody cares!"
I send him to this site

I'm currently at home on disability (broken ankle) and I watched the Live From Earth conference series that ran Monday-Friday. Today they are hosting a concert.  I learned so much! I think of myself as a fairly within person in regards to what's going on in the world of environmental conservation, but wow--I learned so much.  Mostly about organizations and the work they are doing. I learned about the PortL social network platform (and immediately signed up)  The problem with it was that each broadcast was 3-5 hours long! Some of it was live, some of it was transmissions of pre-recorded interviews from other podcasts and some short films were shown too. If I had not been home and forced to stay off my feet there's no way I would have been able to watch 3-5 hours of content.  I saw it because it was relayed on Andrew Millison's youtube channel which I subscribe to, but it seems like it wasn't "archived" there so if you want to go back and watch it you need to search for it

My kids' school has an Environmental Science program for the teenagers, and they put on a huge Earth Day celebration at our school. There was a plant sale, a life-sized orca whale model so kids could learn about the endangered orcas, bird identification, authors presenting about wildlife survival skills and orca conservation, an inflated planetarium, a station to learn about sustainable wool fibre (my kids loved needle felting and trying to spin!), and student reports on native animals. There were also stations for making watercolor plant journals, creating rock art, crafting a good medicine bag (led by a local tribe), and a whole lot more!

It was a huge event, and lots of kids and families came. A lot of the stations and activities were actually lead by the older students. It gave me a lot of hope.

Reading this thread and having just listened to podcast 645 - The Big Spend, an idea occurred to me....Maybe Paul could use the hypothetical $500 000 to spread more info about permaculture during Earth Day. He is, of course always spreading info, infecting brains, but how about a more concerted effort in his local area, during an internationally recognized event, to bring real nubes in on the possibilities of permaculture to revolutionize the world.

Monica Truong wrote:Reading this thread and having just listened to podcast 645 - The Big Spend, an idea occurred to me....Maybe Paul could use the hypothetical $500 000 to spread more info about permaculture during Earth Day. He is, of course always spreading info, infecting brains, but how about a more concerted effort in his local area, during an internationally recognized event, to bring real nubes in on the possibilities of permaculture to revolutionize the world.

I was thinking about that too, if he could get onto some channel that was hosting an event. I also suggested him as an interviewee I'd like to hear on a couple of long format interview podcasts I listen to. I would be great if a bunch of permies could do the same.

For example:
Armchair Expert
On Being (a stretch but it would be so awesome!)
WTF with Marc Maron
Diary of a CEO
Vox Conversations
The David Chang Show
Here's the Thing with  Alec Baldwin
The Jordan Harbinger Show
Without Fail with Alex Blumberg
And I often see people mention Joe Rogan (I can't stand him so I don't listen to that--but I know many people do so it's worth a shot.

These are all non-permaculture podcasts where the host really digs into the projects and thoughts of the guest. They would get ideas heard to a much much wider audience. In my experience, things slowly stop being "radical impossible ideas" when you start hearing about them in all kinds of places.

Melissa Ferrin wrote:
I was thinking about that too, if he could get onto some channel that was hosting an event. I also suggested him as an interviewee I'd like to hear on a couple of long format interview podcasts I listen to. I would be great if a bunch of permies could do the same.

For example:
Armchair Expert
On Being (a stretch but it would be so awesome!)
WTF with Marc Maron
Diary of a CEO
Vox Conversations
The David Chang Show
Here's the Thing with  Alec Baldwin
The Jordan Harbinger Show
Without Fail with Alex Blumberg
And I often see people mention Joe Rogan (I can't stand him so I don't listen to that--but I know many people do so it's worth a shot.

Actually, if someone with some money to spend could send the Better World book to the hosts of these podcasts that would probably also be helpful.

For me, I'm finally seeing some local interest in Earth Day. The village is having an event on Friday where they are giving away trees for locals to plant. I intend on stopping by after my workday.

Timothy Norton wrote: The village is having an event on Friday where they are giving away trees for locals to plant.

It would be interesting if any of the trees produced edible fruit or leaves. Hopefully they aren't the typical tree farm clones.

Producing trees is not rocket science. A small group of reliable volunteers could produce a town's worth of useful trees from seed or cuttings and could do so with mostly donated used pots and compostable material.  

However, maybe as my gift to Planet Earth, I will get my tree sprouts potted up, as I've been meaning to do that for a week, but other more urgent matters kept jamming the queue.