Earth Day 2022: Mother Earth loves you. Love her back

Today is Earth Day!

As you probably know, Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues and the holiday is now a global celebration.

1 billion people on the planet will be celebrating.  

What could be more important than taking the day (or the week) to celebrate our earth? 

Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Gaia…whatever your name for our planet is, 

Let’s honor our planet today. 

Childhood memories in rural Georgia

I’m thinking back today on how I learned to love the earth and nature. 

Growing up, I spent every weekend at my grandparent's farm in rural Georgia. 

My sister and I built playhouses outside around the farmhouse, free to roam and play outside all day. 

We fished in the pond. We walked barefoot on dusty roads, and we rode on the tailgate of my grandfather's truck singing and without a care in the world.   

My grandmother had a huge garden, growing all the vegetables for our family. 

Every summer my sister and I would shuck the corn, shell butter beans, and shred the kernels of corn off the cobb and then we'd eat the delicious cream corn for "dinner"(in the South we refer to lunch as dinner). 

Maie and I climbed up on the tractors and wandered around the farm, barefoot and carefree. 

We'd fall asleep to the sound of the cows lowing and the pigs opening and closing their feeding bins. 

I've realized over and over how lucky I was and what an amazing gift it was to grow up so close to nature and farmland. 

It was simple and peaceful.  

I want the same experiences for my grandchildren

I want them to be able to roam, to walk barefoot, to know where their food comes from and how to grow it. 

I want them to grow up without having to stay indoors because the wildfires have caused too much smoke or a tornado has just ripped through town or there’s a severe shortage of water. 

I want them to honor and cherish Mother Earth and lead the way in teaching others the value of taking care of it. I want them to protect and revere Mother Nature. 

Meet the tiny gardeners. 

We plant veggies and flowers in the spring and tulip & daffodil bulbs in the fall. We also plant greens in the fall.  There's sunflowers and California poppies, tomatoes, and peppers, and swiss chard and kale. It's only a small backyard but we're mixing flowers with veggies and making the most out of the space we have.   

I'm teaching them the names of each plant. 

They love digging in the soil and carefully planting the seedlings. They harvest the greens and then we go inside and make fresh juices.  

They remind me that children don't really know where food comes from unless they live on a farm or you teach them that it doesn’t just come from a supermarket.

There are so many ways to honor the earth

Let's teach our children to treasure our Mother Earth.  

Talk to them about how where our food comes from and how we can be kind to the earth.  

Recycle, Reuse, repurpose.

Be mindful of what you buy. 

Plant a tree. Or start an herb garden. 

Go out for a walk today. Look up at the sky and be grateful.

Whatever you do on this Earth Day, take a moment to think of how you can honor Mother Earth. Be in wonderment of how this planet can take abuse and yet still function. 

She gives us so much and we take her for granted. 

Take care of Mother Earth and yourself 

Without getting overwhelmed by climate change and how scary it is or beating ourselves up about not taking care of the earth or for that matter ourselves, let's see this as an opportunity to not only bump up our own self-care but to bump up what we do to care for the earth. 

When we take a walk and look up at the sky, when we're staring down at a waterfall or savoring the deep colors of a sunset, when we're feeling the rain or even the wind... that is Mother earth whispering...

"Take care of me." 

It’s the same with our own lives.

When we pause and ask ourselves the important questions...what's happening with me now and how am I honoring myself? When we're aware of everything around us, we are choosing to live in a certain way that also honors Mother earth.

Listen deeply to yourself and you'll know how you can help save this precious planet. 

OVER TO YOU:

What will you do today to honor yourself and Mother Earth? 

What new habit might you commit to today to take care of the planet?