It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.
~ Rachel Carson
Random Thought 06.06.09
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Category Archives: Environment
The Original Environmentalist
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. ~ Henry David Thoreau
A Quiet Summer Evening by the Pond ~ Richard Lenat
Thoreau retired for a time to a tiny cabin in the woods to live simply, foregoing society and things, chronicling in words that resonate today the value of being and the sustaining beauty of the land. In many ways he anticipated our issues both environmental and personal as we struggle to cope with diminished material expectations and look for something deeper.
However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
Read the Thoreau Blog, a diary-like chronicle of his experiences …or take a virtual walk to Walden Pond and see the world as Thoreau saw it.
Earth Day Voices
Earthrise 1968 ~ NASA
The Crew of the Apollo 8 first witnessed this breathtaking view of the Earth. On the 1968 Christmas Eve Broadcast, Jim Lovell captured the moment in words… “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.”
Perhaps even more evocative was the quote by Astronaut Edgar Mitchell of Apollo 14:
“Suddenly, from behind the rim of the moon, in long, slow-motion moments of immense majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a light, delicate sky-blue sphere laced with slowly swirling veils of white, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth . . . home.”
Earth Day 2009 will mark the beginning of the “Green GenerationTM” campaign , a two year celebration of the movement that will culminate on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in 2010. Read National Geographic’s history of Earth Day, track our environmental progress or simply sit back and absorb the beauty of the land as Robert Redfort hosts a pictorial narration of the Fragile West.
