It was 40 years ago today...that the Earth got its Day

"Our work’s not done." - Senator Gaylor Nelson, in a 2004 interview, the year before his death at age 89

Earth Day, which was first celebrated 40 years ago, was largely created by Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin who fought hard for environmental laws. From an essay in High Country News,

He then presented 11 measures he hoped would create what he called a national "ecological ethic." Citing the powerlessness of the era’s citizens to combat pollution, he proposed a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to a clean environment. He called for environmental curricula at every level of public education, and he urged a ban on the worst pesticides, the protection of wetlands, investment in mass transit and laws to protect and promote clean air.

As Nelson pressed his agenda, the Earth Day movement grew, and on April 22, 1970, over 20 million Americans -- fully 10 percent of the population -- participated in demonstrations and teaching events. Rallies occurred in scores of cities, over 12,000 schools held events and Congress recessed in honor of the day. The whole thing was as American as apple pie.... MORE

In the above April 22, 1970, AP file photo “Earth Day” demonstrators trying to dramatize environmental pollution conclude their rally at the Interior Department in Washington, leaving spilled oil in their wake. The oil was used to protest pollution by off-shore oil drilling.

A POEM FOR SPRING, 2009

On this second day of Spring, 2009, I offer a poem written by my most favourite 20th century poet, Denise Levertov, whom I discovered when I was in high school.

Beginners

Dedicated to the memory of Karen Silkwood and Eliot Gralla

“From too much love of living,
Hope and desire set free,
Even the weariest river
Winds somewhere to the sea—“

But we have only begun
To love the earth.

We have only begun
To imagine the fullness of life.

How could we tire of hope?
—so much is in bud.

How can desire fail?
—we have only begun

to imagine justice and mercy,
only begun to envision

how it might be
to live as siblings with beast and flower,
not as oppressors.

Surely our river
cannot already be hastening
into the sea of nonbeing?

Surely it cannot
drag, in the silt,
all that is innocent?

Not yet, not yet—
there is too much broken
that must be mended,

too much hurt we have done to each other
that cannot yet be forgiven.

We have only begun to know
the power that is in us if we would join
our solitudes in the communion of struggle.

So much is unfolding that must
complete its gesture,

so much is in bud.

ST. BARNABAS CHURCH IN NORWICH GOES SOLAR

VERMONT INTERFAITH POWER & LIGHT Newsletter November, 2008

At a ceremony in October, a new array of solar panels was dedicated at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, given by the
White Flowers Foundation and the children of church member
Ann Flowers in honor of Ann's 80th birthday. Bishop Thomas
Ely was present to celebrate with the family, the congregation,
and church's rector, the Rev. Beth Hilgartner. The Bishop
spoke of every solar panel being "a sign of our commitment to
a sustainable future for this planet..." The photovoltaic panels
are connected to the power grid, and on sunny days, the electric
meter now runs backwards, giving the church credit for the
power used at night and on cloudy days.

I attended St James's, Piccadilly when I lived in London. In September, Reuters did a short video about churches and carbon footprints and it includes a look at St James's and its photovoltaic panels. Have a look here.

CARING FOR THE PLANET

A friend from St James's, Piccadilly - the parish I attended when I lived in London - sent me an email: Reuters have a short video about churches and carbon footprints. Includes a look at St James's and its photovoltaic panels. Here.

PRINCESS MÁXIMA, WORLD CITIZEN

"Identity" has already for some years been an item in the Netherlands. Princess Máxima, the spouse of the heir-apparent, recently and unwillingly put some oil on the fire that refuses to go out. (See my earlier post.)

World citizens?

As an indication of her world citizenship, Princess Máxima pointed to a signpost outside her house the gives the distance to all the most important places in her life; Buenos Aires, New York, Brussels, The Hague and Wassenaar.

She's got some nasty criticism. Almost every day there are articles, LTE's, and polls about her speech. Toby Sterling, an American living in Amsterdam, chimes with his humourous opinion of this recent Dutch media navel gazing.

What she probably meant is that this is a multicultural society, with recent immigrants from many places mixing together with 'native' Dutch (native as in Germanic/Scandinavian/Frisian/Spanish/Celt/Pict/Gaullic/Roman) _ who themselves are divided into many categories (Rich/Poor _ Catholic/Protestant/Secular _ Homosexual/Heterosexual _ Randstand/Countryside _ politically right or left: SGP/PVV/VVD/CDA/D66/PvdA/SP/GL/PvdD _ etc., etc.).
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If we're going to call this "the Dutch identity," why don't we just throw in all the rest of the cliches, including cheese, clogs, bikes, dikes and windmills, as long as we're at it?

The reality is that, on reflection, Maxima was totally right.
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All Maxima really demonstrated is that this country is a little high strung about its identity right now; and she walked right into the tripwire.

If she had said _ "all Dutch should share the ethos that made this country one of the richest and most powerful in the world in the 1600s. Long live the VOC (Far East Indies Company) spirit!" _ a lot of people would have jumped down her throat too.
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You can think of Dutch society as a "melting pot" or a "salad bowl," but either way the idea that it's some Aryan civilization is untenable. People resist it, but that's because they're dreaming of good old days that never existed, or chasing an illusion.

I think Máxima was speaking for the marginalised, but also about the inter-connectedness of all people. Indeed, we may connect to a "place," but we are also "of the world." I have certainly connected with the places and people where my life has brought me. Bloom where you are planted, as the 60s peace poster reminded us. I recall a quote from Sister Joan Chittister, the Benedictine nun from her interview on the radio program Speaking of Faith.

In the United States, we've lived on a very, very large ice cube that's melting now. The world is coming in, the boundaries are going down. What we're about now is the unification of the world. That means that the whole world is not going to come to us; we have to be prepared to walk with the rest of the world on the path it knows.

Related: Radio Netherlands Amsterdam Forum program on Dutch multiculturalism

EPISCOPAL PRESIDING BISHOP COMING TO BURLINGTON IN NOVEMBER; WILL HOLD PUBLIC FORUM ON GLOBAL POVERTY & UN MDGS

It's capitalism or a habitable planet - you can't have both

Via The Tomb - many thanks for this:

Guardian - It's capitalism or a habitable planet - you can't have both

There is no meaningful response to climate change without massive social change. A cap on this and a quota on the other won't do it. Tinker at the edges as we may, we cannot sustain earth's life-support systems within the present economic system.

Capitalism is not sustainable by its very nature.

In reality, power concentrates around wealth. Private ownership of trade and industry means that the decisive political force in the world is private power. The corporation will outflank every puny law and regulation that seeks to constrain its profitability. It therefore stands in the way of the functioning democracy needed to tackle climate change. Only by breaking up corporate power and bringing it under social control will we be able to overcome the global environmental crisis.

Read it all: It's capitalism or a habitable planet - you can't have both
By Robert Newman Guardian Thursday February 2, 2006

COMMENT: Let's apply the above to what's happening closer to home. We're all interconnected. (Earth to Vermont? Are you listening?) Burlington can't just operate in its own little bubble. Would that the profit-minded Reprogocrats on City Council keep this in mind in their deliberations on the draft zoning ordinance. Our representatives claim to have Burlington's future at heart, but are short-sighted in their rush to grab all development dollars they can consume.