UNITY SPIRIT

earth work: what we can do as individuals

  Let others know you care about your community and Mother Earth.

Trash, garbage, graffiti, old cars---these are symbols that we no longer care. We no longer care enough to clean up after ourselves. When you are out for a walk, notice these things. Take notes as to where your city or town can step  in and help get the area cleaned up. Many cities have graffiti busters either as members of the police department or codes enforcement. Carry a small bag with you and carry out trash you see on your walk. It is a proven fact that cleaning up is a deterrent to further degradation. WE must walk our talk.

Replace incandescent light bulbs with low energy bulbs, particularly for lights that you keep on more than an hour. All low energy bulbs use less power but incandescent light bulbs still work best in short burn situations like a quick stop in the bathroom. The new halogens also save energy and give a great bright light for reading for craft work. Light the area you are working in and not the whole room. Your grandmother was right about another thing... turn off lights if you aren't using them! Turn off the computer if you aren't using it. Turn off your TV with a surge protector as many TV's have an "instant on" function which sucks electricity all the time.

Regardless of summer heat or winter's cold, our homes use a majority of our energy. Calk up the gaps in windows. Weather strip the doors. A quarter inch gap under a door is the same as a three inch hole in an exterior wall! Timed, programmable thermostats really do make a difference and will pay for themselves in two years in most places in the US. If no one is at home, drop the temp a few degrees in the winter and raise it a few in the summer. Rule of thumb?  No more than 5 degrees difference during a 24-hour period. It does NOT save energy or money to shut heating and cooling totally down and then crank it up when you get home. Be healthy. Be comfortable, but don't be energy foolish. Put on a sweater, curl up under a throw blanket or lounge around in shorts and a t-shirt. Dress for the season rather than strive for the perfect temperature in your home and feed the utility companies pockets and deplete Mother Earth of Her gifts.

Its an old piece of advice, but still a viable one ...combine trips. Plan your errands and use less gas, contribute less air pollution and suffer less traffic jam anxiety. If you can use public transportation, do. Ride a bike, walk, the point is use less gasoline.

Use on line bill pay and e-billing when possible. You save paper, stamps,  gas, and time! Almost all banks and major companies now offer this option for little or no cost. You can even buy and print postage stamps online now. All businesses like saving money too. In addition, electronic bill pay is much safer nowadays and with criminals ripping off mail boxes let's not give them a chance.

No matter where you live, Plant Things! Plant a window box, a tree, a garden, an herb garden in a strawberry pot. The key is to plant and grow. Planting things we can eat is even better. You don't need 40 acres in the back to plant a small garden. Beans, peas, and tomatoes do extremely well in planters and pots. Peppers are a favorite if you have a sunny corner. Not only will you enjoy the fruits of your labors, you won't be buying the veggies in the supermarket. With our global economy, veggies and fruits are available at all times of the year, but did you ever stop to think if those crops were grown WITH Mother Earth or against Her?  Many countries (Mexico, Chile,  and the corporate growers in the US) use incredible amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides without regard to the Earth or the people living near the huge corporate farms. We can combat those poisoning practices by buying less, even if a few less tomatoes in July because we grew our own. If you refrain from using pesticides and chemical fertilizers, your fruits and veggies will be much healthier for you and Mother Earth!

Plants help combat air pollution, provide food for bees  (which are drastically reducing in numbers in many areas of the United States), and are pretty. If plants weren't pleasing and consoling to humans, landscapers and landscape architects would be out of business!

Hang and maintain a bird feeder. Seed feeders, hummingbird feeders, suet feeders, or corn feeders all have a devout following within the bird world. You will enjoy their color, their song and reap the benefits of their appetites. Many of the insect eaters "hang out" with the seed eaters. You invite the seed eaters, you invite the insect eaters! Birds love a shallow bird bath as well. Placed next to a shrub, you will provide them with much needed summer water and shade.

Use all of our natural gifts wisely. Water, minerals, land and air are given to all of us, but not just for this generation. We will always have what we need if we take care of and use what we have wisely. This is nothing new. Religious texts written thousands of years ago scold against the wasteful and admonish us all to be frugal. During the late 1800's and early 1900's ladies' magazines wrote hundreds of articles on frugality. During the World Wars, we were reminded of the need to be thrifty and recycle. Today, we are still in need of being thrifty, fore-thinking of potential dangers and practicing frugality . The grocery store building may survive through the hurricane, volcano or flood, but will there be food on the shelves? The lakes may be full of water today, but if a disaster hits or a prolonged drought, will there be water tomorrow?  If we poison the land with chemical fertilizers and herbicides, where will our grandchildren grow their crops?

Respect this blue marble we call Earth. Involve your family or friends. Children love to grow things, feed things, watch things. Encourage their curiosity and their innate ability to nurture. Help them appreciate the wonders of the Earth and not fear Her inhabitants. Teach them to respect spiders and snakes and all other sorts of inhabitants who may present a danger. Teach them to give these creatures space, but not to indiscriminately kill them or fear them.

A bit of advice from my grandfather, "Would you want a giant to suddenly come upon you and stomp you or eat you just because you are tiny to him or he thought it would be fun?"  Think about that one for a minute I first heard it at about four years of age and have never forgotten it.

Compost vegetable scraps, leaves, grass etc.    Recycle and reuse! Before you throw something away to be buried in a landfill, look at it for its other uses. Participate in recycling efforts of glass, paper and cardboard. NEVER throw batteries in your trash. Save them for the hazardous waste pickup or better yet, use rechargeable ones.  RECYCLE the phone book ! Let's push for CD ROM phone books and save a tree and landfill space.

Most importantly, try to live with the earth not on it nor conquer it. Look at your daily routine. Did you leave tracks behind you all day such as excessive power usage with the furnace or air conditioner? Did you burn a tank of gas and not really go any where? Did you pour that half empty can of paint down your toilet because it is latex paint? Did you opt for the quick and dirty pesticide application to your lawn instead of just letting a few dandelions grow? Moderation in all things, my fellow traveler. Unfortunately, we can't live our entire lives without leaving tracks behind us, but we can make sure our tracks are soft indentations and not giant destructive swaths.

 

Take Care Of Others and You Take Care of The World

Taking care of others does NOT mean economically supporting the world, or even your village within it. Of course charitable giving, the Give-Away is important, but it is not the only way we can help our neighbors and our own.

Live the Golden Rule. Sounds simple enough, but look around you. How many OTHER people seem to have forgotten it? Have you? Do your children and friends live by it's simple yet powerful tenet? Stated either as a positive "Do unto others as you will have them do unto you" or flipped around as "Do not unto your brother lest he do the same" you will find the Golden Rule in some form in every philosophy and religion in the world.

If we all followed this tenet, racism, crime, and injustices would fade away into nothingness. At least we can strive to live fairly and with kindness.

Act in Kindness. Hold the door or give way to someone else. Offer to carry an elder's groceries. Offer to watch a young mother's children for an hour so that she may relax and decompress. There are literally hundreds of little acts of kindness we each can do that will better our own lives and the lives of others. Sit down with your children and make up a list of  a week's worth of kindness. You might be surprised how long the list will get!!

We have all heard and read about the ME generation. I don't think it can be assigned to one demographic group. We all can be selfish, thoughtless  people at times, whether we are 70 or 20. Karma (what goes around comes around) knows no demographics. "What ye sow, so shall ye reap"

Sow seeds of caring and goodness as you walk your personal journey.