Deep in the heart of Texas, Spring looks like a full-blown Minnesota summer! One good thing about our daughter living so far south on I-35 is that she can share her Texas Spring with us while the temperatures here remind us that winter is not long gone (not to mention the snowy sleet that squalled this morning while I walked the dog and on and off throughout the day.) Texas Bluebonnets and sunny blanket flowers make the day bright.
The prickly pear cactus, a reminder of the natural semi-arid landscape in that region, is getting ready to bloom.
And this delicate, paper petaled pink poppy is Austin art at its best.
While Minnesota weather is cultivating patience in us as we celebrate our incremental movements toward Spring, Earth Day is upon us! That means I will be out walking the ditches with a metal pik stik and a big bag, cleaning up trash that has accumulated over the winter. It is my spring ritual, my contribution to a cleaner Earth.
In my last post, I wrote about a Place called Home. Most of us can relate to living in a special place that means something to us, a place we love. Imagine if somebody walked or drove by this special place and dumped their trash every day. What kind of emotions would that invoke? Anger, exasperation, frustration? We generally have a sense of pride and responsibility in caring for the place we call Home. My challenge to us all is to extend our vision of a place called Home to encompass the whole Earth. Just because the trash is hauled away from our homes, is it going to a place on Earth that will eventually cause damage? Is it being dumped in the ocean? Will it kill ocean creatures? We need to think about the whole chain of events and see if there’s a way we can make a difference.
Most of the trash I pick up in the ditch is plastic–plastic food wrappers, plastic bottles, and plastic grocery bags. Two college campuses in our area have chosen to not sell plastic-bottled water in an effort to reduce waste. And way down I-35 in Austin, Texas, the city has banned the use of plastic bags. Small efforts that can add up to make a big difference. So on this 45th Anniversary of Earth Day, buy a reuseable mesh bag for your fruits and vegetables, carry reuseable grocery bags, choose paper over plastic, recycle everything that can be recycled, and participate in community clean-up projects.
Our place called Home, in the Big Picture, is Planet Earth. Let us all be good stewards, great caretakers, and grand lovers of this place called Earth.
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