Earth Day Thoughts

For weeks, I had thought of all the things I could do to commemorate Earth Day this year. Shall I plant a tree again, as I had before?  Shall I throw a beach cleaning party, as I had before?  Maybe I should do a special workshop?  Or organize a meditation / prayer session for the Earth?  There are so many things one can do, and if you browse through the Internet, you'll find millions of people celebrating Earth Day a million different ways today.  

The fact is, Earth Day, for me, as it is for an increasing number of people all over the world, is a day just like any other day of the year.  We begin the day with the Earth in mind. We take our 5-minute showers. We watch our water and energy usage throughout the day.  We eat less meat because we know it takes more resources to raise livestock & other animal proteins. We eat plenty of organic vegetables during meals. We recycle our plastics, glass and paper.  We stack up/store up packaging & household materials we can reuse later.  We walk, bike, carpool, or use public transportation to our jobs and errands.  We compost our kitchen scraps from our meal preps. We shut down our screens an extra hour or two earlier and relax in bed with a book. Finally, we fall asleep knowing that we did our best with the Earth in mind throughout the day; and we know that when we rise, we will do it all, with her in our minds & hearts again.

Some day soon, there will come a day when doing things for the Earth will be a daily, or even hourly practice for everyone - when everything we do will be for the benefit of our environment, which in turn, will enhance our health, and our wellness.  Until then, I'll happily and gratefully join in on the celebratory neighborhood tree-plantings, beach cleanings, Earth Day parties, and wear green the whole day long.  Happy Earth Day...!