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Thursday, April 21, 2011

"O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of Earth, that I am meek, and gentle with these butchers!" ~William Shakespeare


It's Earth Day tomorrow. We've been talking about it a lot, discussing the different things we can do to keep our planet good and green. At our house we: grow a lot of our own veggies, compost our food scraps, use fabric shopping bags and re-useable travel mugs, do our best to conserve water {I am training these boys of mine to turn off the tap while they brush their teeth, and slowly... they're getting it}, and recycle like crazy {seriously! we put four boxes- cardboard, metal, plastic- out to the curb every other week!}

Dylan's class did an art project where they brainstormed ways they can help protect the Earth. He was very proud of his.


This goal, to keep the water clean, is near to our hearts this week. You might remember all our family gatherings and field trips to Goldstream Park, the provincial park and river just outside Victoria. Well, on Saturday night a tanker truck full of gasoline {drunk-driver at the wheel} crashed on the Malahat Drive, spilling 40,000 litres of fuel into the river. The future of the salmon run is in question, and a delicate ecosystem is suffering. It makes me angry, and also really sad. Will my boys ever again get to experience the rite-of-passage for all south-island kids, a trip to Goldstream during salmon spawning season? More than ever I am reminded that we need to be gentle with our planet. We need to take care of it!

What will you be doing to recognize Earth Day? We're going to plant a few trees, fill our birdfeeders with seed, and then we're going to take a walk by the lake and enjoy the nature all around us. We will be grateful for this planet we call home.

3 comments:

  1. First, I'm going to give a presentation in one of my grad classes. Then I'm going to recover from the shock of that in the dark.
    I'm just teasing. I haven't given much thought to Earth Day -- and that might be because I talk about Climate Change and environmentalism almost every day in my classes. That's a good thing, I think.

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  2. I've made a vow to myself to use my reusable mug and waterbottle instead of grabbing coffee in a plastic cup from starbucks. Plus, when Noah gets home I'll use the air inflator in his car to put air into my bike tires for the summer time. :)

    Great idea talking with the kids!

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  3. how awful about what happened to the river!! that makes me mad too. no one should drive drunk-- but someone driving a tanker truck full of gasoline? they should really know better! that is sooo dangerous. I'm guessing no one was hurt and for that I am glad, but it's going to be hard to clean up that river.

    on a lighter note, your son is adorable in that picture!

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