Happy Earth Day Week – April 2025
My grand-daughter Sonya created this post, focusing on climate change and the critical need to pay attention and take action.
In the last 45 years, our earth has been warming by 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. Though this number may seem small, it has an immense impact on our ecosystem and resources. Animals in every ecosystem are dying and further destroying the cycle of life and the way our world functions in a multitude of ways.
It is so important to understand the impacts of climate change in order to make sense of the unbelievable changes to our world and the importance of fighting climate change. I am aiming to educate others about climate change and its impact in order to unite more people to make their own difference.
Sonya’s poems highlighting the lack of awareness on climate change
Making Selfish Choices (Shein is a fast fashion brand, NOT eco-friendly)
SHEIN haul! I got seven new swimsuits for the summer and now I have 34! I don’t even wear a swimsuit 34 times a year; I will get rid of most of them and they will end up alongside 12 million tons of American textile waste.
The trash can is so far away and the beach is so comfortable I’ll just leave my trash here! I don’t know that the Pacific Garbage Patch is three times the size of Texas. Over 360 trillion tons of microplastic float around the ocean thanks to me.
My favorite influencer is telling me six new products to try! I purchase five of them and add to my collection of unopened and unused products. 52% of people my age regret buying beauty products after they are purchased and rarely use them.
I put my goldfish in a plastic bag for lunch every day, it’s so easy! Americans use over 100 billion plastic bags a year. We use them for an average of 12 seconds and it takes 2.6 billion times longer for them to decompose.
Observations from 7 to 15
Seven years old, staring out the window on I-70. On the way home from a road trip and trash bags flutter around the car like
butterflies. Cans line the sides of the road and extinguished cigarettes speckle the asphalt. A tear rolls off a rosy cheek, lightly reflecting on the dusty car window.
Eleven years old, exploring the nearby wooded areas with a friend. Squirrels scamper by with empty chip bags in their mouths, crinkling with each step. The ducks dunk their heads into the muddy water, carefully avoiding the cans and shards of glass scattered around them like confetti.
Thirteen years old, watching others toss their trash aside and blatantly ignore the nearby trash cans. The wind picks a piece up and carries it through the air, a glimmer of hope slowly getting further and further away.
Fifteen years old, trash bags in hand and gloves pulled on. Birds chirp and flit around the area while the ducks waddle around and watch. Six trash bags; half of them full of broken cans and glass bottles. The other three have plastic bags, pen caps, cigarettes, and pieces of styrofoam.
Four and a half billion years old, and full of contradictions. The Earth is full of tree stumps, crying children, blooming flowers,
laughter, thunderstorms, sunny beach days, wildfires, and new beginnings.
Past Earth Day posts to Explore
Simple Earth Day Mindful Practices
On this Earth Week 2025, take some time to both appreciate and give some love the our home planet!
About this Blog Post & and Qigong Practice
This post is part of my lunar blog series. For the time being I’ll be posting on each new moon as that is a great time to begin projects and set intentions with the increasing light. Topics are related to related to plants and ideas featured in my book, Growing Mindful. or on other topics related to mindfulness, gardens, qigong, and intentional living. For more details and a list of past lunar blog posts, click here.
An invitation to healing circles. I have partnered with other graduates of the IIQTC (Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi) to offer virtual HeART of Body Compassionate Self Care Practice Circles based on qigong and tai chi. Check out the information here: Global Healing Circles or contact me if you need more information.
If you are in Denver, I lead qigong and mindfulness walks at Bluff Lake Nature Center on the last Sunday of each month beginning at 7:30 AM.
Joann, I love this wonderful tribute to the Earth, and especially tell Sonya how much I enjoy her poetry about climate change. Thought-provoking to read about climate change from a young person’s point of view and using poetry – magic surprises that made me think. The photos went well with the poetry. A real gift. I hope she keeps on writing and that you both write more together.
Thank you so much Debbie, I will pass this on to her. It was fun working with her on this.