Crossroads _ 
   and the road we are on is crossing some dangerous tracks!
Earth day.


(from Earth Day : The History of a Movement @ earthday.org )

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.
As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. "It was a gamble," Gaylord recalled, "but it worked."

 I am so old I remember the ''first'' one well. I was the same age as  my eldest grandchild now It was huge and exciting . I had been touched already . by a deep deep  ache in my heart learning of animal extinctions,pollution and all was ''Mercy, mercy me, the ecoolgy, what's going on?''As an elementary student I remember seeing a tv nature special and felt like Joan of Arc . I got my Polaroid camera and set out to do an exposé on the litter found just n my home street alone ( I was only 10 so could not venture too far).That year, 1970, we planted trees on my school property, flowing trees I recall. Before I graduated high school the  trees were removed and , yep, really, it was paved over for a parking lot just like the song sings.
Now as old grandmother I see  past 40 years ''we might as well have been walking on sun'' and our kids (grandkids) are hippy-chic but are they environmentally aware? Disney brought Suess' Lorax to the big 3-D screen ( and grandma and kids loved it and Betty White rocks!) but did we hear?
Climate change *Chemical Spills* Ocean Garbage Patces* Bees & Butterfly populations drastic decline * Oil spills * Fukishima * Fracking * Deforestation *  Water Quality and Rights.....

 Now when I go out  I seldom photograph the litter, or pollution,the dumping and careLESSness of humans upon Mother Earth. I seek the spots of beauty, of positive life, of interesting and odd and fun and fascinating. Sometimes the human interaction is seen but mostly I shoot the natural and my love only deepens.

 The winter here was harsh and before that 2 years drought. Each day is a gift in which a blossom may smile for but that day then be gone. There is an urgency to try to grasp each fresh day's offerings before they flit away, and even more so as  it seems threats to the natural unfolding of beauty seem evermore frought with accidents, events and the crisis of carbon overload on the planet tipping the balance into an unknown future.
i want my grandchildren to be able to raise children who will know the thrill of seeing a wildflower laden with Monarch butterflies resting mid-migration.I want them to trust the waters around them to be drinkable and safe to wade in, fish in and play.

 Let the flowers bloom (YES Alice Walker “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.” YES!)
listen to the birds sing and waters dance,
let the pollinators do their work spreading life and beauty all around

 To Earth Day
and better tomorrows