What Inspires Me? Canada Did Something!
We talk-talk-talk about plastic waste while garbage islands—the size of Texas—float through the Pacific. We talk-talk-talk about overflowing land fill, about reduce and reuse. We talk. And we “bribe” ourselves to use less plastic with returnable deposits and nickel/dime bag charges and pat ourselves on the back when we put plastics into recycle bins to be repurposed and call it “doing something.”
Canada actually did something.
This is a photo of one of the huge plastic islands —See anything you discard?
Last Month the Canadian Government passed a ban on six categories of single-use plastic manufacture, import, export and sale.
A ban that begins now and will be fully implemented by the end of 2025.
“WE DON’T HAVE TO WAIT FOR A LAW TO BE PASSED—LET’S ACT UNLAWFULLY!
LET’S BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC THE EASY WAY—-DON’T BUY IT! DON’T USE IT!”
This is our park, our garbage cans, our picnic leavings—3 points for cleaning up after ourselves…but did we?
You may not remember it, but back in the good-old days, right here in the good old U.S of A, the highways, byways, parks, roadsides, parking lots were festooned with—trash! And everyone seemed fine with it. Really!
After all tossing trash out the window or into the bushes is easier, isn’t it? After all, isn’t that what all the marvelous new-fangled plastic, cardboard, Styrofoam containers and utensils are made for—one use and toss? So easy! Whooppee!
It took then first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, a shy thoughtful woman who loved flowers and nature, to say “Enough!” Convinced cleaner highways and streets would “make American a better place to live” Lady Bird launched her “anti-littering” campaign—publicly (and privately, no doubt). On Oct. 22nd, 1965, her husband, LBJ, signed the Highway Beautification Act.
Now, thanks to Lady Bird, while many of us still do it, we find littering deplorable. Doubt me? When the series Mad Men aired an episode where the Drapper family goes on a picnic and tosses their trash viewers were outraged. Here’s the Mad Men Picnic Littering clip.
But here’s the thing. We Americans don’t like anyone—especially “Government”—telling us what to do. We don’t want to be bossed around! We don’t like bans. Do we?
So why wait? Let’s show them who’s BOSS!
Let’s simply STOP! Stop buying and using single-use plastic. (And Styrofoam, too, while we’re at it. Styrofoam is as bad, worse than plastic.) But how? you ask. Below is a handy-dandy 5-item list of ways to stop buying and using single-use plastic.
“Hint: As Lady Bird did with her anti-littering campaign, get the kids involved. Let them help you—and us—be the change. ”
BYOB! BBD! BYOS! BYOC! BYOU!
Just as with using seatbelts, it might be uncomfortable at first, but we’ll get used to it!
Wind Wishes for Earth Day
It's Earth Day! Let's Celebrate with Wind Wishes!
When our friend, Joy, moved away, the gals in our creativity group, wrote hopes for her and tied them to a tree to wish her well.
How To Make Wind Wishes:
Cut the paper into strips at least 1 inch wide and between 6 and 24 inches long. Vary the length and width of the paper strips. Try not to cut the strips too narrow or they will tear.
Write one wish for the earth on each strip of paper. These wishes might be hopes you have for our earth’s future or for the earth’s creatures.
Punch a whole in one end of each paper strip.
Lace string or yarn through the whole in the paper strip and tie a knot.
Tie the wishes to the branches of a tree, or onto a fence and watch them flutter in the wind.
Wind Wishes on a School Fence blowing in the breeze
“Supplies:
Strips of paper (used bags, construction, wrapping)
String or yarn
Something to write with (pens, crayons, water-based markers or paint)
*Please don’t use plastic, foil, beads, glitter, or other materials that will not decompose and might be harmful to animals and birds.”
These Earth Day wind wishes will fade, and the paper will decompose. Birds and squirrels will use the bits of string and paper to build nests.
Prayer flags in Kathmandu,
By our deeds throughout the coming year, let's strive to make these wishes come true!
Thanks for reading!
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Norman Flips over Science Fair 2012
Lulu M. Stevens Elem's in Houston celebrated Earth Day with a rockin' Science Fair!
Mother Earth shared Not Norman, A Goldfish Story with the kiddles. (But, Norman really really wanted to sneak over to the Mealy worm table!) And dang, wouldn't he look cool with blinged-up goggles!
To enjoy the show, click here: Science Festival Show 2012 Not Norman
It's Re-Birthday: Plant something!
Earth Day is April 22nd. The brainchild of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin), Earth Day was designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for Earth’s environment. It began as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is now recognized as "teach Earth day" celebrated in many countries every year. "According to Senator Nelson, the moniker "Earth Day" was "an obvious and logical name" suggested by "a number of people" in the fall of 1969, including, he writes, both "a friend of mine who had been in the field of public relations" and "a New York advertising executive," Julian Koenig. April 22 was Koenig's birthday and according to Nelson, as "Earth Day" rhymed with "birthday," the idea came to him easily.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day).
Julian Koenig, one of the most infamous Madison Avenue Mad Men, was inducted into The copywriters Hall of Fame in 1966. According to research uncovered by my son, Max, Koenig was the ad guy responsible for the rhyming Burma Shave signs posted on the road and painted onto barns that once ran along Route 66, entertaining travelers while spouting the virtues of a nice, close Burma Shave. These early, amusing, ads have since been replaced by not-so amusing, definitely not scenic billboards--roadside trash. (To think, Earth Day's daddy started the trend.)
So, because April 22nd happened to be Koenig’s birthday, and “earth day rhymes with birthday” and April 22nd became officially known as Earth Day. And maybe because everyone present was imbibing heavily (as, according to the TV series, Mad Men did in those days), and caught up as they were in the excitement of it all, no one bothered to check if April 22nd was already taken. It was taken… April 22nd is, and has been since 1875, National Arbor Day in the United States.
Arbor Day was the brainchild of J. Sterling Morton, ex-Governor of Nebraska. After noticing how the forests were being chopped down, Morton decided to do something about it, so he declared a “Tree Planting Holiday.” He, like my daughter Lexi, like Koenig, must have been of the mind that birthday’s should be holidays because he had also chosen his own birthday, April 22nd, for Arbor Day. That first Arbor Day was held in Nebraska on April 22, 1872.
Arbor Day was traditionally considered a “school childrens' holiday” because it was primarily observed in schools. Students wrote poems, drew pictures, sang tree songs and….planted trees. Fancy that! Arbor Day is held all over the world at different times of the year, depending when the best tree planting time is in that region. If you’d like to read more about Arbor Day check out my book: Arbor Day, Children’s Press, 2003. (Move over, Julian, I can be a Mad Woman.)
After a time, because we Americans love to standardize our holidays, National Arbor Day was moved to the last Friday in April. And then along came Earth Day and, as often happens in our modern world, Arbor Day: a simple, quiet holiday dedicated to gentler pursuits: songs, drawings, poems, gardening, has been usurped by the more commercial, more political, Earth Day.
Today, on April 22nd, 2010, in honor of the 135 anniversary of National Arbor Day and the 30th Anniversary of Earth Day I’d like to propose a change:
Let’s go back to the source of both Arbor Day and Earth Day. Whether they were aware of it or not, J. Sterling Morton and Julian Koenig were onto something: April 22nd is a day for new beginnings. So I propose we change the name of the holiday to Re-Birthday!
Happy Re-Birthday! Revive, Replenish, Restore: Plant Something!