Earth Day

Yesterday my son told me he had to have a green shirt to wear to school today to celebrate Earth Day.  I told him “Son, if I use fossil fuel to go buy a shirt that you don’t really need, that does not honor the earth, it contributes to her pain.”

In our home, Earth Day is celebrated everyday.  We don’t have trash any more because except for plastic and metal, everything is slow burned (producing little to no smoke).  It will “cook” at the low temperature for a year then it will cure for a year then it will be spread on our gardens to enrich the soils depleted by bad farming practices.  What happens to your garbage?

We are reducing the amount of meat we eat because the factory farming methods used to produce virtually all the meat we buy in grocery stores and restaurants produce massive quantities of manure that are then leached into our water systems.  Our water systems are dying from these chemicals.  Fish and other wildlife are getting sick and dying.  Meat can be sustainably produced, but unless consumers demand clean and healthy meat, agricultural conglomerates won’t change what they are doing.  By next year we hope to be producing our own meat.

We grow increasing amounts of our own fruits and vegetables.  When you buy fruits and vegetables at the store, those things are brought to the store from far away.  Sometimes they come from other states, but if you buy summer fruit in the middle of winter, it comes from other parts of the world.  It takes a lot of fossil fuel to bring a nectarine to North Carolina from Chile.  I don’t know how far that is, but it’s around 6,000 miles.

Now, one son is sporting a t-shirt bought at Old Navy.  The label says that is was made in Lesotho.  Lesotho is a landlocked kingdom surrounded by South Africa.  That’s even farther away than Chile.  My other son is wearing a green sweater with a faded label.  I’m not sure, but I think it comes from Columbia.  Columbia is close to Chile.

Next year, they won’t be wearing these clothes.  Next year they will wear clothes made with fabric made here in America.  I will make their clothes for them.  They won’t be fancy, but they won’t dishonor and damage the earth.  The earth is more important than clothes.

We don’t use fertilizer or pesticides in our garden because those also hurt and dishonor our earth.  We know when we have done something wrong because our bees die.  Our bees our important for growing food and for making honey which we use for food and for medicine.

Be wise this Earth Day, don’t dishonor her with foolish “celebrations” that actually hurt her more.  Be wise and make plans to tell everyone how you are better next year than you are this year.  If we all do this, you can tell your grandchildren about it.  If we don’t, there may not be a tomorrow.

For wisdom, I am TRULY THANKFUL.

Comments

[Adrienne]

Hey, just recently discovered your blog through Dee. I really enjoyed reading the whole thing. I would love for you to email me back. You and I have a few similar interests and I have questions that I would love to ask you.

[Jo`]

ADRIENNE! =o) All I need is your email address dear! Or, you can use the "Email Me" button that is just under my photo on the top right corner of this page. I check my email frequently so I'll probably get back to you within 24 hours.