To me, everyday is Earth Day but it is nice to have a specific designated day for celebration. Like a birthday. Sadly, I think a good many people only bother thinking about the Earth on Earth Day and the rest of the year they are oblivious. Or People say things like “I recycle” and “I bring my own bags to the grocery store” and that’s great but it isn’t good enough.
President Obama went to the Everglades in Florida today to give an Earth Day speech. Air Force One used more than 9,000 gallons fuel to get him there and back for his little photo op. And of course he talked about climate change and controlling carbon emissions which at this point is just lip service because he has done very little during his administration to move this country toward doing our part to stop global warming.
He chose to visit Florida for a reason, not only is it a state that is being severely affected by climate change, the governor, Rick Scott, has banned the phrase “climate change” from being used in all government-related documents and events. Because, you know, if you don’t acknowledge it is happening then it really isn’t. Magical thinking, that. Scott denies it but there are too many scientists that have done work for the state and too many other state workers all talking about it that it is hard to believe the governor when he says everyone else is making it up.
I was hoping to be able to do a review of This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein today but I still have about 90 pages left to go. It’s an excellent book. Also, very depressing though not entirely without hope.
I am reading a marvelous book called Notes from Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin. It is a beautiful, meditative kind of book and I thought I’d share a couple Earth Day appropriate quotes from it.
[I]n the Middle Ages people were on the land — on it, in it — in a way that we simply are not today. We live our lives outside the land. We stay off it mostly.
***
This basic idea of consideration is at the heart of all true conservation. You act out of consideration, out of fellow feeling, for other living things, and for other people. Most of the degradation of our land, air and water is caused by selfishness.
And here is the first stanza of an Earth Day poem by Jane Yolen:
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Each bit of mud,
And stick and stone
Is blood and muscle,
Skin and bone.
You can read the rest at the Poetry Foundation.
And one final thought, compliments of Henry David Thoreau:
Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps.
Remember, in being kind to the earth, we are being kind to ourselves.
Happy Earth Day!
Happy Day, dear Mother Earth. Sometimes we are thankless and thoughtless children. Perhaps we will learn by our mistakes, perhaps we will not, but there is no life without you. Perhaps there is still hope we will treat you well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well said Grad!
LikeLike
I love this post. Too often people only “care” about the Earth when it’s politicized or fashionable. We should care every day! The Yolen poem is great…
LikeLike
It will be interesting to read what Klein is tkinking about our denial of climate change. Here, in our general election, enviromental concerns are depressingly low=profile. The economic crash of 2008 seems to have marginalized enviromental concerns, examples being the enthusiasm for fracking and a brief flurry of news that there might be lots of oil in Surrey (now that doesn’t seem likely thank goodness!).
LikeLike
Ian, Klein doesn’t focus much on the reasons why people deny climate change, her focus is on the economics and how capitalism, especially of the neoliberal brand, has brought us this point and will not be what saves us. Actually, the 2008 crash created a giant opportunity to shift wealth and power and create good jobs in green industries but governments failed to move away from the status quo. Fracking, ack, one of the most destructive and polluting industries around. I hope Surrey is spared!
LikeLike
I am just about to start the Naomi Klein book with a bit of trepidation as it sounds both necessary and quite frightening.
LikeLike
Ian, yes, the first part is pretty devastating but she provides a ray of hope in the last part. I hope you find the book as informative I have 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks bookgirl! Glad you enjoyed the Yolen poem 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
People just can’t understand how important wild places are to the earth and to them. I was on a conservation commission in Massachusetts. One evening we had two groups of people in front of us, one was a couple who wanted to build a house too close to wetlands and one was a group of people who were mad that their houses were flooding because a previous con com had allowed building too close to wetlands. See the irony of it?
LikeLike
Joan, oh dear. Irony abounds. It’s crazy. And it’s not just about protecting wild places either but people have a hard time seeing that because, like Deakin says, we live our lives outside the land and think nature is somewhere else when it is everywhere and we are part of it.
LikeLike
Referring to Obama, you wrote: “And of course he talked about climate change and controlling carbon emissions which at this point is just lip service because he has done very little during his administration to move this country toward doing our part to stop global warming.”
I believe this statement needs to be supported with facts. What has the President done? And what has continually blocked his efforts to do more?
I quote the following from the While House website:
“The United States is leading global efforts to address the threat of climate change. Wind power has tripled, and energy from the sun has increased tenfold. U.S. carbon emissions have fallen by 10 percent from 2007 to 2013 – the largest absolute emissions reduction of any country in the world. To build on that progress, President Obama has taken a series of ambitious steps to combat climate change.
In June 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the Clean Power Plan – the first-ever carbon pollution standards for existing power plants that will protect the health of our children and put our nation on the path toward a 30 percent reduction in carbon pollution from the power sector by 2030. Power plants are the largest single source of carbon pollution, accounting for about one-third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions. The Clean Power Plan will set standards for carbon pollution from power plants, just as we have set limits on power plant emissions of arsenic, mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and soot.
In November 2014, in a historic joint announcement with China, President Obama laid out an ambitious but achievable target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in the range of 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, while China announced its intent to peak carbon emissions around 2030 and to double its share of zero-carbon energy to 20 percent. The announcement was a historic step for climate change action and for the U.S.-China relationship, as the world’s two largest economies, energy consumers, and carbon emitters came together to demonstrate leadership on an issue that affects the entire world.”
In a word, I believe Obama cares deeply about greenhouse gas emissions and has done more that offering “lip service” to reducing them. At the same time, he has been prevented from doing more by a paralyzed Congress and the reluctance of developing countries to address climate change.
LikeLike
Richard, yes US carbon emission may have fallen but that is only because we are exporting the coal to China and other countries to burn, those numbers are deceptive. By the time Obama leaves office the US will likely be the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas. He has allowed more areas to be opened up for oil and gas exploration and the regulations that are supposed to protect the environment when it comes to these two fuels are flimsy. The infrastructure and and green jobs initiative that he began in his first term has fallen to pieces. He has control over the EPA and can place strict regulations on fracking but has made no such move. Regulating emissions is not enough, not allowing for extraction of coal, oil and gas to begin with is taking climate change seriously. Truly investing in and requiring energy producers to create green energy from solar, wind and water is taking climate change seriously.
Obama can’t do everything alone, he can’t force congress to pass laws, but he has a lot of regulatory power that he is not using. He talks a big game but a lot of what gets passed is too little and verging on too late. Something is better than nothing, however.
Bill McKibben has a Rolling Stone article from 2013 you might find interesting: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obama-and-climate-change-the-real-story-20131217?page=3
LikeLike
Thank you for the McKibben article. I appreciate your comments, Stefanie. My views on climate change are not especially well informed. Whether or not we have a disagreement requires more research on my part. But I don’t think it is necessary to characterize Obama’s public comments as talking a big game or simply paying lip service. By doing that you doubt his sincerity. And only he can be sure about that and even then, maybe not.
LikeLike
Richard, sure thing! As for Obama, when it comes to climate change, actions speak louder than words in my opinion and Obama has talked a lot but hasn’t actually done much at all to make a difference.
LikeLike
hello Stefanie… it’s JC from Frequency of Silence. I haven’t read your blog for such a long, long time… there’s been many changes in my life, losses and gains… life full of turmoil and peace. I am glad I found your new blog. I intend to come back and read and catch up with your projects. Thank you again.
LikeLike
Hi JC! Long time! It’s nice to hear from you again. Will you be blogging again? If so, let me know what your blog address is 🙂
LikeLike
Happy Earth Day! And yes, it is something that should be on our minds all the time and integrated into how we live our lives–as until we think about how we interact with the natural world and how we are mistreating it–nothing will change! Scary. Isn’t Roger Deakin wonderful? I am so glad you are reading Notes from Walnut Tree Farm–I loved it and could happily read it again. Don’t you think he must have been the nicest man–and so gentle and observant. I have his books about trees and look forward to reading that, too! Have a great weekend!
LikeLike
Danielle, Deakin is marvelous! I remember how much you loved it when you read it. I suspect he was a very nice man, how cold you not be nice if you write a book like this one?
LikeLike
The governor of Florida denies climate change and won’t talk about it???? And he gets away with that? I’ll be very interested to read your review of the Naomi Klein, and also of the Roger Deakin. I can remember Danielle reading it and loving it, so he will definitely be going on my list.
LikeLike
Litlove, yes indeed he does. It’s sad and scary all rolled up into one. Deakin is so wonderful and Klein is so depressing. They almost balance each other 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person