‘even a wounded world is feeding us.
even a wounded world holds us,
gives us moments of joy & wonder.
i choose joy over despair, not because i have my head in the sand,
but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and i must return it.’
-robin wali kimmerer, author, braiding sweetgrass
—
today, on earth day, and every day
—
walking the ann arbor parks, michigan, usa, 2025
These animals, crafted from cardboard and plywood, make up “The Herds,” a public art project that recently set off from the Democratic Republic of Congo on a journey through major cities in Africa and Europe. The goal is to raise awareness about how the climate crisis is endangering the very animals represented by the life-size puppets. “We believe thousands and thousands of people are watching us,” project member Siphokazi Mpofu told AFP. “We believe out of these thousands, maybe 10 will take out something on what we are doing and then take it back to their communities, to their cities.” Watch a video of the herd in motion.
—
‘The wildlife and the natural beauty of this earth are the heritage of all generations to come.
We must act as their guardians.’
– Sir David Attenborough
—
source credit: AFP
where does the tree end and the child begin?
—
“as a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth;
to see the land as an animal does;
to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee;
to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us;
to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unselfconsciously to the soughing of the trees.”
~valerie andrews
“no water, no life. no blue, no green.”
*sylvia earle
—
*Sylvia Alice Earle is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer.
She has been a National Geographic Explorer at Large since 1998.
—
image credit: mayo clinic
“the grand show is eternal.
it is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising.
eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and eternal glowing…
as the round earth rolls.”
-john muir
good planets are hard to find
—
photo credit: earthtalk
picture from a past solstice celebration
—
every year
one of my favorite things to teach and share with my class
is the story and traditions of the winter solstice
i get to play the sun
the children play the tilting earth and the seasons
who spin and dance and throw snow
as the season changes
the sun stays in the middle
offering extra light
to the other side of the earth now tilting toward it
knowing it will always return to them
even as our days grow shorter
they quietly rest on the ground
waiting, waiting
only to emerge
when the time is right
happy to dance once more
in the light of the warm spring sun.
—
*notes: here is my recipe for the winter solstice, and many thanks to all for your low-tech special effects support of this performance: torn paper snowflakes made by the children, many smiles, a bit of dizziness, a sun doing an interpretive dance, a person to turn off and on the classroom lights at just the right moment, a flashlight, a yellow paper sun, a dj to play the music (‘carol of the bells’ by george winston, and ‘here comes the sun’ by the beatles) at just the right time, and a class full of kinder/whirling twirling planets throwing snow, lying down, and awakening as emerging new life in the spring when the sun returns. somehow it all falls into place, each year a bit differently, as is the way of the world.
—
“spiritually, life is a festival, a celebration. joy is the essence of life.”
-agnivesh
with the return of the school year
comes the return of our outdoor adventure days.
—
“we could have never loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it.”
-george eliot
For a single minute at 7:15am, EST, on Friday, July 8, 99% of the world’s population was (7.688 billion people) either in sunlight or twilight and could simultaneously spot the sun in the sky. It’s a minute in time that only happens once a year. The only countries not under sun in that minute were New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Antarctica.
It’s hard not to see, but admittedly if someone wasn’t watching for the phenomenon that unfolded Friday morning, they could have definitely missed it. This does call into question what it means to be seeing the sun. According to the website timeanddate.com, while the claim is technically true, the number of people perceiving sunlight is a bit lower – about 93% of the world’s population.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 