IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN— April 22, 2022—Earth Day! Did you know that April 22 has been Earth Day every year since 1970 so it’s the 52nd Anniversary this year? Check out GOOGLE and you will find lots of information about Earth Day and what it is that we can do to celebrate it at the local, state, national, and global levels. I was interested to learn that the theme for this year’s celebration is: Invest in Our Planet. It is a call for more climate-change-conscious decisions by political leaders to reduce the effects of global warming, as well as individual cleanups to help the local environment.
I’m all for it, and I’m also concerned about just how we get ourselves and others to become aware about climate change and to actually want to do something about it. I recall reading about a college professor asking her students if they loved nature and the replies were quick and positive. She then asked them if they thought the earth loved them back and waited for their replies. They seemed stumped for an answer. Finally, one student stood up and said that he did believe that the earth loved us back and that lead him to reply, “You wouldn’t harm something that gives you love.” I can see how that attitude or insight would help someone to want to care for the earth. So why are we having so much difficulty really taking climate change head on even when we have scientists, meteorologists, ecologists, and environmentalist all telling us, now warning us, that we only have a limited time to make the changes needed to keep this beautiful planet from receding into an unlivable place. Why don’t we love the earth as the wonderful Mother she is to us? (St. Francis of Assisi, the Patron of Ecology, called this planet Mother Earth!)
Think about the words of Thich Nhat Hanh quoted above. We really are the Earth because we are made from the earth in our mother’s womb and we are nourished by the plants and animals on the earth. I love the thought from Kahlil Gibran that the earth delights in feeling my bare feet and that the wind longs to play with my hair. Think of that when you are barefoot on a windy day!
I do think that it is necessary to be reminded that we are not the stars of the show, the all-powerful inhabitants of the earth who can use and abuse the planet and its resources as if we were the only species that counts. It is necessary that we realize that we are only one of millions of species and we must share the earth’s resources with the rest of the planet’s inhabitants.
As our Native American brothers and sisters teach us, We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Here are some practical things we can do today to make sure there is a planet Earth for future generations (see GOOGLE for more ideas):
• Do an energy audit in your home, especially involving electronic devices.
• Create a backyard compost pile.
• Make a bird feeder out of some recycled container.
Start small, but start! And love the Earth!
Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sistersosf.org.
We are the Earth and we are always
carrying her within us.
+Thich Nhat Hanh
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.
+Khalil Gibran
Whales and redwoods both make us feel small
and I think that’s an important experience
for humans to have at the hands of nature.
We need to recognize that we are not the stars of the show.
We’re just another pretty face,
just one more species among millions more.
+Roger Payne
