Earth Week Sunday

This week before Earth Day is called Earth Week, April 16 - 22 this year. 

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, and it still remains a big event in the environmental movement. Interest and participation in Earth Day has increased and spread around the world, with millions of people taking part. 

I do many things everyday in my life to help the earth: I live in a small house; I walk and bike, and work at home; I buy used stuff and buy locally; I use the library instead of buying books; I compost, recycle, and grow my own food, I lead an Earthcare support group at my Quaker Meeting, and I work with other climate activists to help change the way we use carbon in our community.

This week I plan to post an agenda of activities for each day, including some reading and education, contemplation, earth care actions, and artwork, that grounds me in unity with the Earth.

Agenda today:

1. Wildlife Garden

2. Contemplation
3. Take action

4. Artwork

1. Wildlife Garden: 

Every year for Earth Week I choose a new focus for learning. This year I chose the National Wildlife Federation website, "Garden for Wildlife", dedicated to "educating and empowering people to turn their own small pieces of Earth into thriving habitat for birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife".

It's all about re-establishing native plant communities and protecting the local watershed with sustainable gardening practices. I'll read a little everyday, and make a plan for how to improve my yard habitat this spring and summer. I especially like the Native Plant Finder that is searchable by zip code!

2. Contemplation:

Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) is the Japanese practice of immersing your senses and yourself in nature; it's a process of slowing down to pay attention to Mother Earth, and it can be done anywhere - even in your own backyard. Research shows that forest bathing reduces anxiety, strengthens your immune system, and helps you sleep better. And it will also help you to develop a stronger connection with the Earth. 

Today I will go to our neighborhood park to give it a try:

• Find a quiet spot outdoors, alone, and leave your devices behind.
• Slow down. Forest bathing is not hiking; instead, sit quietly on your porch or deck, wander slowly around your yard or neighborhood, or take a slow walk in a wooded park. Be aware of the beginning, the middle and the end of your stepping, and walk as silently as possible.
• Pay attention to any areas of stiffness or pain in your body and consciously relax them. Become aware of your present mental and emotional states.
• Use all five senses to connect with nature. Get up close to the plants, trees, and dirt and begin to notice the details around you - the bark on the trees, the color of the sky, how the air feels on your face, the noises you hear and those you don’t.

3. Take action:

I've been working on plastic reduction education for months now, with my Earthcare group, and this week we are having a postcard campaign, witnessing to legislators about reducing single use plastics. Today I'll sign and address my set of four postcards.

Oregon has one bill that we are particularly following, that has passed in the senate. We are asking our representatives to support it now:

Dear Representative Holvey,

I urge you to support the Oregon bill (SB 543) to phase out expanded polystyrene for food ware, packing peanuts and coolers. This disposable packaging is usually thrown away after a single use and breaks up easily into smaller pieces that are hard to clean up, disperse rapidly due to their lightweight nature, and can persist in the environment for centuries. Expanded polystyrene is not accepted in curbside recycling and is not easily recycled, and is among the most common items picked up at beach cleanups. 

Single-use plastic threatens our oceans, wildlife and our public health. I urge you to work to reduce plastic pollution this year. We need to shift away from our throwaway culture and create an economy in which we produce less waste, build products that last and can be reused or repaired, and recycle the rest. Please do everything you can to put Oregon on the path to a more sustainable future.

4. Artwork:

I'm going to a rally on Saturday, with a theme of forest protection, and I've invited others to join me later this week to make signs and banners. I'm also going to make a pre-school-sized flag with my grandson! Today I'll make a plan and a list of supplies we need.