Be environment-wise

It's World Environment Day today, the first day of Environment Week, and there are probably a million different actions we can do to help the cause. It all begins, of course, with being mindful of how the way we live affects our planet. What we eat, what we wear, how we keep ourselves clean, how we travel, the work we do, how we entertain ourselves -- in short, everything we do during an ordinary day can have a greater or lesser impact on our environment, and most particularly on our climate. Just by breathing we are creating greenhouse gases! Never mind driving, cooking, heating or cooling our homes, etc...

Just because a certain world leader chooses to ignore the fact that we are experiencing global climate change doesn't mean that the rest of us can afford to follow suit. That's part of the reason I've been moodling here for almost seven years -- to offer my readers all sorts of simple suggestions about things we can all do to live more lightly on the planet. Some of my "Simple Suggestions" are obvious, others are whimsical -- how can flying a kite improve our planet's well-being, you might ask? The way I look at it, anything we do that gets us to appreciate our environment, to entertain ourselves and use personal energy instead of the worldwide web or the electrical grid, and takes few resources is a step in the right direction. A certain filthy rich world leader has already fallen behind ordinary citizens like us who are truly taking the lead for our planet's sake. We understand that, as Richard Rohr is fond of saying, there is enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed.

Rather than re-list ideas I've already listed before, you're invited to review my Simple Suggestions page, revisit your environmental footprint by clicking here (I'm happy to see that our family's footprint has gotten smaller since a year ago), or find a website with other ideas that work for you (let me know if you find a good one!) And maybe step outside, breathe deeply and appreciate the abundance and goodness of our sister, Mother Earth, and consider what else we can do to return her many favours. Let's let our gratitude lead us to action for our earth's sake and leave the climate deniers in the dust. They'll have no choice but to catch up eventually!

And now, I'm going to pick some mint and make a cup of backyard tea to toast the health of our environment!