My One Earth

So Earth day is coming up on April 22nd. Earth day has always meant a lot to me. When I was younger, it was planting trees and cleaning up my neighborhood. I have always felt this strong motivation to take care of the environment. I could barely say the word environmentalist but when I was younger I thought that was the job for me. My parents were supportive but also sometimes were upset about my actions. I would yell when I was little at people when they were littering, calling them pigs. A recent occurance happened when I was at a stop light and saw a guy opening his car door to throw out all of his trash. I look at him appalled and he proceeded to throw some of the trash as my car. I am trying to learn to be more reserved with my opinions. I can change my actions but not the actions of those around me. I will promote my beliefs through right action. One example of this is bringing re-usable grocery bags to the store. I have been doing pretty well with this for two years straight now! My hubbie kind of would scoff at this but now he will grab bags when he goes to the store. He actually bought one while he was at Hot Topic and throws it in his car to use it.
I bring a reusable coffee mug to work. No one else does but they stop to look at me and think about the possibily of doing this themselves. So at least it gets them thinking. Hahah we learn this as teenagers..if we are told we should or have to do something we won't.
I have an interesting opportunity at the Unitarian Universalist Church I go to where I am on the Social Action Committee. We are notifying members of the opportunities for Earth Day Events in the community that they can participate in. I maned the table last weekend to tell people about it and about Heal The Bay who we will be donating our collection to this coming weekend. If I talk to someone straight on about volunteering they run away pretty fast. It is such a delicate thing. How do you provide the information without making people feel like you will guilt them into it. This Sunday I will try again and this time I just want them to feel that I am available but am not trying to push them into anything. Perhaps I will move away enough so they know I am not going to pounce on them. I always hate when you are at a store and someone is right there watching you look at everything. It is so akward and I usually leave earlier than I've wanted to. I want to keep that image in my head when I'm at the volunteer table.

Talking about Earth Day I have decided on an event that I will participating in this year. It won't be on actually Earth Day. Couldn't find many opportunities for that but did find many opportunities the weekend before. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/ has many opportunities listed. What is great is that by volunteering you will also be able to get free admission to the music festival that they are putting on.

The event I will be attending is:

Griffith Park Tree Planting, Landscaping and Cleanup
Saturday, April 18, 2009

8:30am to 2pm

Come celebrate Earth Day and join with Green Apple Festival volunteers as we plant trees, landscape, and clean up a section of the park!

Griffith park was affected by the fire so we will be cleaning up that area and replanting. I actually haven't been to Griffith park yet, which is a fact that many people in CA are shocked at.



I am excited to get to be part of something bigger then myself. I always feel the best when I can let go of my individual life and clue in to the bigger needs of our world.