Earth Day, A Time of Growth & Reflection of Good Deeds to Do
Honestly, I recognize the length of time between the last post and this one is a bit ridiculous. I also recognize that everyone is busy, that we all have things to do, places to go, and people to see. No excuse to write!
Today is EARTH DAY! A fantastic reason to celebrate Mother Nature in every way possible. There are community and school clean-ups; people gather at riverbanks and road sides. Gloves, vests, and garbage bags adorn volunteers who make it a mission to clean up.
But what happens after Earth Day? There are those who warrior through every moment they can. Recycling, managing waste, composting, using “greener” products, all efforts to help however possible, and it all matters, it really does and can.
It’s easy to lose hope, I know. I realize how quickly a coffee cup thrown from a window or cans wasted by the wasted end up in our driveway, across the street, down into the brook, or even our pond, and they multiply like crazy, accumulating to a wasteland of dead leaves, plastic, glass, and aluminum, and that’s only the surface.
It’s easy to lose hope.
Yet, in this time we balance a loss of winter and a welcome to spring, my body and mind must turn to those warriors.
Just today, we joined Great Mountain Forest to learn about amazing owls, a beautiful presentation by Horizon Wings Raptor Rehabilitation. Out of the eager packed crowd, we quietly observed from our back row, hence no close pics, but we can attest to the care, love, and devotion of the volunteers as they educate the public about these breathtaking creatures.
This allowed us to see a love of nature in action. . . people who risk life and limb to save birds, many of whom are hit by cars or poisoned by rodenticide.
I ask you to please watch for the impact of these chemicals impacting our birds and prey animals as well as domesticated animals like cats and dogs.
You can find a brief film here to learn more: Prey for Wildlife.
In addition, CT’s Senate is considering a second generation ban. To learn more, read this.
A bald eagle down the street from our home was recently taken in as injured, however, it was determined the seven year old bird died from toxic levels of rodenticides.
We have come to wonder at the bald eagles who make a weekly fly by our home, and we also wonder if this was one of our visitors. We think, too, about our nesting pair of red-shouldered hawks who’ve made our place home for years. And just this week, we realized a pair of crows is nesting across the street, a first for us.
The birds we love showed up the last couple of weeks like flowers from the ground, and we love them so much, it pains us to see anything happen that we could have prevented.
Like our dam that was blasted out nearly three years ago, you can certainly feel a little helpless at times. How can I make sure my hawks are safe? My barred owls? My new raven friends who the crows hate? I love them all. And most of all, my sweet herons.
Yet, hope remains.
I walk outside with my daughter to survey growth. We look in the sky, listen to our birds, move branches for fairy houses, and breathe in the air.
My other neighbor starts his tractor to work in his field.
“The heron,” my daughter says.
I look up. I have my camera. It’s kind of far and blurry, but he doesn’t know we’re there.
The tractor. He doesn’t like it.
Our house, the unmowed fields, and the shrinking pond, his safe haven.
No weed killer, and full of dandelions…
I am an Earth Healer. I love my nature, and nature loves me.
Thank you, dear heron, for reminding us today that we cannot take our earth for granted, and it’s our duty to make it safe for you. It warms my heart to know our house was a haven for him.
Make your home a haven for all animal friends, for they cannot ask us to help.
This is my last awesome message of hope to share from this week! (see the trend of balance? Hopeless to hope!) A former student of mine is starting his mission to help animals in Africa! I share this as his TedTalk will ignite the spark he needs! Please watch William Adam’s TedTalk and warm your heart!
So proud of him!
I challenge you to make every day EARTH DAY!
