Seasoned Living
Spring is Best Time to Honor Mother Earth

by Mary Rose Remington

One of the challenges I face in writing a seasonal column is having deadlines several weeks prior to the release of the paper. Let me say it more vividly: it’s difficult to write about spring when we just got dumped with eight inches of snow! And yet I trust by the time my words make it through the editing process and onto paper, the snow will have melted, the birds will be serenading us with their sweet, musical songs, and we might have even gone coatless today.

Nothing boosts weary spirits more than warm weather and strong sunlight gifting down beams of Vitamin D, which, by the way, doctors are increasingly recommending. Mother Nature, bring spring on! The good people of the Midwest welcome and worship this favored season.

April 22 is Earth Day

Did you know the idea for Earth Day evolved over seven years, starting in 1962? A Senator from Wisconsin by the name of Gaylord Nelson persuaded then President Kennedy to give visibility to the environment by going on a five-day, eleven state conservation tour in September of 1963. For a variety of reasons, the tour didn’t gain much support, but according to Mr. Nelson, with time “the germ of the idea ultimately flowered into Earth Day.” Borrowing from the Viet Nam anti-war demonstrations, Senator Nelson announced at a conference in Seattle in September 1969 that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment, and invited everyone to join him. The wire services picked up the stories of sit-ins and demonstrations. This served to inspire the masses to unify, verbalize and act on their concern for the nation’s land, rivers, air and lakes.

Today Earth Day is observed by more than 500 million people around the world, and governments in 175 countries. The environment is a daily topic at schools, colleges, businesses and homes across the nation, all thanks to the pioneering work of Senator Gaylord Nelson.

Fourteen Ways to Honor Mother Earth
(besides planting a tree)

1. Visit the School of Environmental Studies, a.k.a. SES a.k.a. Zoo School. Two of my three kids attended this optional high school, part of the 196 School District. How many schools do you know can boast of having their own windmill? For more information or to schedule a tour, visit www.district196.org/ses or call 952-431-8750.
   
2. Stop buying bottled water. Get a water filter and a Nalgene for each family member.
   
3. Visit Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul. Always a hit with old and young.
   
4. Improve your health and take the stairs. My daughter just shared this elevator statistic, “Mom, the amount of electricity it takes to move an elevator one flight of stairs can run a light bulb for one year!”
   
5. Start a compost pile and make what my mother-in-law calls ‘black gold’ for the garden soil.
   
6. Tour a recycling plant with your kids or grandkids and find out what they do with all that stuff.
   
7. Organize a neighborhood clean up day. Make it a BYOB: bring your own bags. Invite everyone over for potluck dinner. It’ll be great to catch up on each other’s lives after hibernating all winter and what a great community builder.
   
8. Call City Hall and ask if they are sponsoring a spring hazardous waste collection day (tires, paint, etc) If the answer is no, ask if they’d consider it.
   
9. Read Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about the year she attempted to grow all the food for her family. Totally admirable.
   
10. Browse through your seed catalogues and sketch out plans for your vegetable or flower gardens. After you read Barbara’s book, you’ll definitely be motivated—or shamed into growing something.
    
11. Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Saving energy is that easy.
    
12. Rent the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” with Al Gore. Commit to 3-5 things your household will do differently.
    
13. Visit a Nature Center. My favorites are Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul and Richfield Nature Center on Lyndale Avenue in Richfield.
    
14. Hold a hand-me-down clothes party with your friends. Everyone brings 2-3 items of gently used clothing they no longer wear (or accessories) then they swap. Anything not claimed goes to your local Goodwill Store.

Mary Rose Remington is a freelance writer, career counselor and life coach, motivational speaker and mom to three ‘almost grown’ children ages 22, 20 and 17. Feel free to visit her website at www.maryremington, email her at mrose@maryremington.com or phone 651-457-1302.

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