Earth, rise

Thursday of this week is Earth Day. It was first celebrated in 1970, largely through the instigation of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Senator Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his role as founder of Earth Day.

“The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” — Gaylord Nelson

Photo by J. Harrington

Two years prior, during the Apollo 8 mission, Earthrise, the first photo of Earth rising over the moon's horizon, was taken. It clearly showed how alive, alone and potentially fragile our home planet looked against the blackness of space.

Earthrise, NASA

Although it would be too harsh a judgement to assert that Earth Day has been a failure, looking at the current status of climate weirding, multiple extinctions, continuing widespread pollution of our air and water, a global pandemic, growing inequality among nations and people, meaningless squabbling about who should do how much of what to save the planet, and the recent election of a totally unqualified individual as 45th POTUS, one might conclude that our consciences are failing the Nelson test. This week, this month, every week and every month, we must make every day an Earth Day or we will have no future generations with  words of thanks. They will justifiably be cursing us for our failures to provide them with a habitable home.

For the Children

by Gary Snyder

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us,
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

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