…so today, please pay attention to your Mama (Earth). Please treat her the same way you do your own Mama.
Will you send Mama Earth a birthday card today? Make that annual phone call:
You: Hey Mom!
Mama Earth: Hi baby!
You: Sorry I haven’t called-!
Mama Earth: Don’t you think twice about it, dear. Your Mama knows how busy you are!
You: So how’s your “special day”going, Mom? Did you get the card I sent?
Mama Earth: Yes! My wasn’t that lovely. So big! Must have taken a lot to make that thing. But I have it propped up on the mantle with the cards from your brothers and sisters. I’m just doing the same as I’ve ever done. I hate to complain, but it sure get’s harder and harder the older I get and your younger siblings aren’t much better at cleaning up after themselves than you are.. er…were. But you don’t want to talk about me; let’s talk about you!
Hmmm… I was going for silly, but that shit sounded damn serious, didn’t it?
Here’s the deal. I know I’m exaggerating for most of us. We probably show our Mama a little more love than that; maybe a lot more love; hell, I don’t know. And the same goes for Mama Earth. If you’re reading my blog, chances are you care about your Mama Earth, and you at least mean well when you separate your recyclables for curbside pickup and turn off the water while you’re brushing your teeth.
I’m just tickled to death when I see folks like Fake Plastic Fish going over the top and showing us some serious, devoted and large personal scale change!
And I love reading that bloggers like Shelly are turning over a new green leaf.
And frankly, I could give a shit that green is “in”, and that it seems that for every genuine green product there is one that is a lie… that people would rather argue the semantics of your “carbon footprint” versus your “green footprint” than nurture the desire in folks to change… because at least we’re talking about it!
What’s sad is that everywhere I look on the internet people are still and consistently choosing convenience and marketability over “damage control”.
“Damage control”. Say it with me:
“Damage control”
I really like the sound of that, don’t you? There is no way to argue that one, is there?
Do we all agree that me make messes?
That we use shit up?
And that this has an effect on the Earth?
“Damage control”
Oh, people would still have plenty to argue about if we switched from “carbon, water, or ecological footprint” to simply “Damage Control”, (Corporations, I’m sure, will use it the same way governments refer to “acceptable losses” in wars; the same way the “bean counters” always have) but might just thinking in terms of damage control help us?
I am the temporary custodian of 40 acres of scrub in the High Desert. A tiny speck of sand on the Earth. But it’s my speck of sand.
It’s about 3/4 “unimproved”. What I mean by that is that the back 30 acres or so, haven’t been messed with or dumped on by humans too mush in my lifetime, at least. Of course, there is rumored to be a defunct copper mine back there somewhere, and we do take the occasional walk there. Although in the 60′s and 70′s my Grandparents let us ride motorcycles and dune buggies back there once in awhile, whe haven’t allowed that in many years.
The front 10 acres have 2 homes and a trailer on them, and innumerable piles of “junk” that my grandfather collected. Junk cars, (Only 3 left- I’m working on it), piles of decaying plywood, sheets of aluminum and broken appliances. Old screens and rabbit cages and, and, and…
A tenant after my Grandfather passed away once decided that it would be good to burn a bunch of the garbage and junk, so I’m still sifting through and cleaning up piles of broken glass and rusty cans and screws, bolts, nails and unidentifiable hardware.
Although I have thought in terms of “damage control” most of my life (my Mama was a “Hippy”!), moving here to the family ranch has brought it home to me in a way that is probaby much harder for people who live in urbania, where trash is collected and streets are swept, can really wrap their heads around.
There are a lot of folks who like to argue that most people who are avid recyclers and reusers are “poor folk” who do it because they have no choice. There is, I’m sure, some validity to that sort of thinking as well. When you can afford to buy everything you need new; when you can afford to indulge your desire for the newest, the coolest, the latest model- it probably is harder to consider what your consumption means to your Mama Earth.
Out here I have to consider everything I discard. First of all, we have to load it up and take it to the land fill, ourselves. City folk might feel different about their waste if they had to load it on a truck and drive it to the dump and there have their senses assaulted by the stench and sight of consumer waste.
If I paint my living room, I have to consider where the rinsewater is going (no sewer water reclaimation services here: I have to trust Mama Earth to filter what we put in the ground before it reaches the water table. Then I stack the cans and rags to be taken to town on our “haz-mat” monthly disposal weekends.
Well, enough of that; I don’t mean to get preachy on ya’ll, but I tell you this to perhaps open your eyes and heart just a tiny bit to considering “damage control”.
Every action begins with thought. Spend a little time thinking about your choices, your actions, your consumption. Not just today, but every day.
Enough outta me. I need to get outside and run the mower over the weeds and other biodegradables (bird cage newspapers, etc.) too large to compost efficiently.
Happy Earth day to Mama and all her (dumb) kids!
Tags: damage control, earth day, ecological footprint, green living
