I’ve been traveling these past few weeks and thinking about the upcoming Earth Day. I had the pleasure of backpacking in the beautiful Aravaipa Canyon in southern Arizona where I saw my first mountain lion in the wild. Thrilling!
I also spent some time in a used book store where I found myself in the Nature section and I reviewed the names of some of the authors who shaped my worldview – Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau and Edward Abbey. Lastly, I read with dismay that the Senate has voted to overturn the mining ban on federal land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Earth Day is all around me.
For me, everyday is Earth Day. One of my life philosophies is that I think it’s important to tread lightly upon the earth. As the bumper sticker says, live simply so that others may simply live.Â
Here are a few of the things I do in an effort to live that ethos: I’ve been a vegetarian for over 30 years, I (almost) never use the dryer, there are solar panels on my roof and an electric car in my driveway. None of these things happened overnight and I encourage everyone to pick small (or big) changes they can make in order to tread more lightly.
One small act I’ve been focused on this last year is paying in cash when I can. When I spend $100 cash at a local restaurant, the restaurant spends $100 cash at the local grocery store and the grocer spends $100 cash with the local farmer and on it goes. But when I spend $100 on the credit card, Visa gets $3 and the restaurant gets $97. The restaurant spends $97 at the grocery store and the Visa gets another $3 and the grocer gets $94. The grocer spends $94 with the farmer and Visa gets another $3 and on it goes. To me, Visa has enough of my money already.
The theme of Earth Day this year is “Our Power, Our Planet.” At first I thought it was just talking about the migration toward renewable energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels, but lately I’ve been thinking about it much more broadly. Power is of course about electricity generation but it’s also about our everyday choices. What do we choose to buy? Do we buy it new or used or fix the old one and decide not to purchase something at all? It’s about how we spend our money.Â
Do we buy local or from a behemoth online shop that doesn’t pay taxes or recirculate any money into your local economy? Do we walk, bike, take the bus or drive the Hummer? Do we lobby our representatives to preserve natural spaces? Do we participate in the local river cleanup? Our options to foster sustainability are everywhere.
So, for Earth Day, I like to give thanks that I live somewhere with clean air, clean water and access to healthy food. I hope that people consider their choices today and tomorrow and everyday after that. We have more power than we realize.
