More of the same, no thanks!

Tonight’s full moon is known by the Ojibwe as the Sucker Fish Moon and by the Lakota as the Popping Trees Moon, according to the Minnesota WeatherGuide Calendar. By Tuesday we’ll be back to ten hours of day length and it’s increasing at an increasing rate. The afternoon temperature is around 30℉ and melting is occurring on some roads and rooftops.

a full February moon

Photo by J. Harrington

Our dogs are happier with the warmer temperatures when we go for a walk although, even when it’s bitterly cold, they still feel compelled to sniff a lot to find exactly the right spot to do business. I’ve tried explaining to them that the longer they stand when it’s below zero, the more their feet get cold but they just look at me as if to say “well, what can we do about that?”

The packages of Irish Soda Bread mix arrived today and most of them will sit in the pantry until next month, closer to St. Patrick’s Day, but I may yield to temptation and bake a loaf next week for practice. My excuse is my renewed interest in Druidry. I’ve read about it off and on during the past few years and now it’s time to try a serious study. I’m very concerned that our entire culture seems so separated from nature and the growing consequences of our past actions and current inaction in responding to climate weirding and an increasing pollution load in the earth’s air and water systems. Congress, back in 1972, declared that "as an interim goal, wherever attainable, to achieve water quality that is “fishable” and “swimmable” by July 1, 1983.” But, according to a report from a year ago:

“Today, almost four decades after the Clean Water Act’s deadline for ‘fishable and swimmable’ waters across the U.S., 50 percent of assessed river and stream miles across the U.S. — more than 700,000 miles of waterways — remain impaired with pollution, as well as 55 percent of lake acres and 25 percent of estuary miles,” wrote authors from the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit launched by former EPA attorneys in 2002.

There’s an old planning dictum I’ve mentioned before, “More of the same never solved a problem.” We need enough of US to change at the individual, family, and community level to bring about a transformation of our culture and economy. If that means we need more druids and pagans, I’m for it.

The World Is Too Much With Us

William Wordsworth - 1770-1850

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I'd rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

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