It’s Earth month! Did ’ja know?

Almost every Spring I’m surprised by how long it takes for the winter’s accumulation of snow to finally melt. The field behind the house is still mostly snow-covered. Bare ground is emerging and extending southward from the south-facing ridge along the northern edge of the field. The snow is also melting from the top down or bottom up, or both, but remains inches deep and more where it’s drifted or been blown or shoveled.

The ditches on the west side of the road are mostly clear of snow which remains covering the ground in the woods beyond the road and on the neighbor’s yard on the eastern edge of the road. If the heat wave(?) forecast for midweek doesn’t bring our spring thaw to an end, I’ll be here sputtering come Thursday or Friday. Otherwise, I’ll probably commenting that “It’s about time” we got to enjoy bare ground again.

Joni Mitchell has a several lines from the refrain of her great hit Big Yellow Taxi that go like this:

Don't it always seem to go 
That you don't know what you've got 
Till it's gone 

I find myself wondering if that’s an evolutionary flaw in the human species and, if so, is it one that could be corrected through education or some form of behavioral conditioning. It would be quite unfortunate if we don’t know that we’re totally dependent on ecosystem services for our life support systems (clean air and water at a minimum and food that doesn’t poison us) until they’re gone because we’ve tipped the climate into a literal hell on earth; polluted all the potable water; and unraveled biodiversity into a human monoculture that’s then doomed.

April is Earth month. I don’t particularly care for this year’s theme (Invest in Our Planet) because it concedes too much to capitalism. (See Ecocide – Kill The Corporation Before It Kills Us). April 22 is Earth Day. I really wish we had many more politicians today like those who brought us the first Earth Day, such as Senator Gaylord Nelson and Congressman Pete McCloskey.

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

Meanwhile, here’s some options to track some of the local folks who can help us understand and appreciate what it is we’ve got before it’s gone.

• St. Croix 360
• Belwin Conservancy
• Wild Rivers Conservancy
• Thomas R. Smith, and
• Laurie Allman

Earth Day

By Jane Yolen

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me.

Each blade of grass,

Each honey tree,

Each bit of mud,

And stick and stone

Is blood and muscle,

Skin and bone.

And just as I

Need every bit

Of me to make

My body fit,

So Earth needs

Grass and stone and tree

And things that grow here

Naturally.

That’s why we

Celebrate this day.

That’s why across

The world we say:

As long as life,

As dear, as free,

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me. 

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