Earth Day?

For six years, I lived in Clear Lake, Wisconsin – a town of about 1000 persons in the northwestern quadrant of the state. Clear Lake’s claims to fame include:

1. The horror movie Clear Lake, WI was made there a few years ago; 
2. Professional baseball player Burleigh Grimes, the last pitcher officially permitted to throw the spitball, grew up there; and, 
3. It’s the birthplace of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day. 

(Actually John McConnell proposed a day of international celebration first – for the earth and for peace – to UNESCO. It was ratified by the United Nations. But that's another story. Senator Nelson's is the one which stuck – at least around here.)

As I was saying, I lived in the cradle of Earth Day, if you will, for 6 years. I remember my enthusiasm as we prepared to drive to Clear Lake and have a look around, soon after receiving my appointment to serve the church there. I remember wondering as we drove up and down the streets that April day, where are the gardens? I mean, this is where Gaylord Nelson got his start. Where were the signs that the community embraces this heritage?

There weren't any. Well, not many, anyway. Each April 22, or as near to it as the weather and the school calendar would allow, dozens of teenagers would come from the high school south of town for their Service Learning Day. Some would rake yards, others would paint or scrape paint, per the request made. I imagine some picked up trash. One year Kay joined a group that did a puppet show version of The Lorax for the elementary school students.

In my time at Clear Lake, I did not get a sense that the Clear Lake / Earth Day relationship was complex. In truth, it didn’t seem to exist. They treasured their celebrities but as a community seemed not to have bought into the idea of earth care.

I suspect that this is the case for a lot of people. More and more are getting on the bandwagon now, whether because of fears regarding plastics & foods, or the quality of GMO and/or pesticide-ridden foods, or because of community expectations that you WILL recycle.

How much do you embrace the idea of being responsible for caring for our earth home?

Me? I see earth care as an integral part of the stewardship we're all called to practice as people of faith. Not that I'm exceptionally good at it. Far from it! But I’m working on using less and less plastics. I’m trying to live into an ever simpler lifestyle, one that leaves a smaller ecological footprint. I use a steel water bottle. And, I've been an organic gardener for decades.

I've learned that organic carrots from the supermarket taste better than the petrochemical-fertilized ones. But homegrown are best. Try for yourself and see if you don’t agree. Maybe there’s a garden in your backyard, or in your future. If not, there are more farmers markets around than ever. Check one out. Taste-test for yourself.

Here's something I wrote a few years ago, for a mid-April worship.

Psalm 104, For This Day

Bless God. Everyone here,
    praise our creative God!
With heart and soul and voice,
    let’s praise God!
All the earth, the cosmos –
    things we don’t even know about;
All the creatures –
    bugs and birds, fish and people –
    everything begins with God.
What an imagination our God must have!
    Think of it…
Plants living off other plants;
    plants living off air.
Underwater volcanoes spewing out future islands;
    mountain-high crystal pools in long-dead craters.
Leggy, long-necked, long-tongued giraffes;
    albatross with wingspans the length of cars.
Long-tailed thresher sharks,
    long-nosed elephants;
Fish with headlights,
    bugs with taillights;
Squid with eyes the size of basketballs;
Trees thousands of years old,
    trees that bloom only once in a century;
Snails, millipedes and dung beetles;
    Surely God has a sense of humor!
Suns and stars, moons and tides;
    Salt water and fresh,
    and each to live in its best environment.
What wisdom we find when we study nature,
    when we study all that God has devised.
Let’s celebrate what God has done and is still doing.
    Let’s laugh and sing. Let’s raise the roof!
Praise God!