Happy Earth Day 2015

When I was growing up the world seemed incredibly huge.  The sky was so big and the ocean so deep that they seemed to go on forever.  But I do remember not being able to play at recess because the smog in the San Fernando Valley was so thick.  Even then, my lungs would ache walking home from school.

We used to burn our trash in an incinerator in the back yard but that was outlawed.  As more and more cars drove the Los Angeles freeways, more and more smog accumulated between the inversion layer that would occur usually during the change of seasons.

It got one to thinking about living more naturally.  There were many years as an adult that I would not even drive a car.  I carried many heavy bags home from the grocery store, having to stop at the end of each block.  I rode busses and pushed my laundry to the laundry mat in grocery carts up and down hills with my son in tow.

My shoulders are all but shot now.  I use a heating pad every night on them.

When Saddam Hussein lit all the oil wells up in Iraq, I said to myself, “What difference am I making with my sacrifice?” and started to drive a car again.

I had a garden that was full and lush in my mid-twenties using entirely natural means.  Companion planting, compost and natural pest control.  Who knew that would make me feel like a major rebel of my time?

I garden naturally with pride now knowing that any small act effects the entire whole.  I even have a successful nature blog that is viewed internationally.  We need to trust that life can heal itself if we will only get out of the way.

I also spend a little extra money to buy organic food and in a glass container or from the loose bins, if possible.  Every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of experience we wish for the earth’s inhabitants.

Happy Earth Day 2015