Earth Day – One Girl One Planet

Happy Earth Daaaay!

Hi! SolarBear here.

Today’s post is going to be different then most posts. Because this is not a normal day. It’s…(drumroll, please)…EARTH DAY!

*Cue worldwide activist parties!*

Since it’s Earth Day (my website’s first birthday! Sniff…they grow up so fast… remember that very first post on Earth Day last year?), and since we have so many wonderful people working on posts now, including Tigress and Callisto (here’s a link to Callisto’s Earthrise post about the beautiful photo below), this is going to be a little longer than usual. But we worked really hard on it, so you’ll really want to read this one!

Happy, happy Earth Day, my eco-friends!

Sincerely,

SolarBear.

Callisto wrote a wonderful post about this famous photo, known as Earthrise (link above).

Picture This…

Picture a world where everything…and everyone…is safe.

Picture a world where freedom––and a vote that counts––is considered a fundamental human right.

Picture a world where everyone––children and adults of all races, cultures, faiths, and gender identities––are treated respectfully, fairly, and equitably, with free access to education, to honest information, and to health support. (Including a vaccine, if they need one.)

Picture a world where beautiful trees grow thick, lush, unharmed by humans.

Picture a world where the rivers, seas, and oceans are crystal clear, except for the plankton and important algae that feed the creatures living in it.

Picture a world where you can go outside and breathe fresh, clean air without worry––even those living in cities.

Picture a world where islands, and the populations and cultures living on them, are not threatened by climate-driven sea rise.

Picture a world where rainforests stretch on and on...to the very edge of the horizon…unharmed by humans.

Picture a world where your favorite––and the Earth’s most iconic––creatures are in no danger, but are safe in their natural habitats, which supply their needs.

Picture a world where our human footprints do not harm the rest of it.

We CAN have this world––picture it!––in which any day is an Earth Day.

If only we try.

The Power of Words

Have you ever wanted to do something about the climate crisis but have been too scared? Or maybe it’s just that you don’t exactly know how?

Well, I can help with that…a little, at least.

First, are you too scared or anxious to say what you think?

This is nothing to be ashamed of. Even while I’m writing this, I’m wondering if it’s a good idea to write it: Am I making mistakes? What if someone thinks this is weird or stupid? What if no one sees this at all?

But I have to ignore these nagging feelings because…the Earth is worth it.

Imagine if every voice––smart or stupid, cool or weird––spoke out for what they believed in: stopping human-driven climate change. That would be so many voices that the world leaders and people who are preventing us from moving forward would have to listen.

Every drop in the bucket counts

But my voice is too small, you might think. What’s one less voice in a million?

As an answer to this question, one voice is everything.

Perhaps there are nine hundred thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine voices? Then that one extra voice would be the difference between several thousand and a million. And one more? From a million to more than a million. Whether it seems like it or not, it’s a measurable difference: it COUNTS.

Or, perhaps, and much more importantly, what if everyone thinks what you think–that their voice doesn’t count, either? That would make the difference between one million…and nothing. No one would ever give the climate crisis a second thought, since no one ever asked them to think about it twice.

Okay, so maybe you understand this now. But perhaps you’re still too scared. What do you do?

You push those feelings aside, and speak anyhow. You can still be cautious, but just realize there is a very fine line between caution and fear. No matter what everything seems to tell you, it’s more important to get your voice out there, to take the risk to help and hope, than to overanalyze what you say, attempting to make sure it’s what your friends, your relatives, your teachers, or even some YouTube celebrities want to hear. All that matters is that you speak up and you tell the truth. Someone, somewhere, will listen.

Perhaps your voice will be the turning point for someone; that one extra nudge that puts them on the right track. Or perhaps your voice can be more than a turning point: perhaps it will be someone’s inspiration. For me, I never know when a sentence, a stanza, or a single word, will make impact. Most of the time it’s the inspiring ones out there who make a difference, but, sometimes…it’s the little, quiet, less-heard voices who make that difference.

Now for the next step…how to start

Just don’t know how to start…? I get this feeling, too. For a long time I was thinking a lot but not saying anything. I just wasn’t quite sure how. Those little uncertainties bothered me–and stopped me from even trying.

But then I began to look, to learn, to listen, and I created a website–and now my voice is being heard! By you, if by no one else.

Now I know that I should have done something, whether I knew how to or not––our world is simply worth it.

My advice is just DO.

Do something meaningful, even if it feels awkward. As long as you’re doing something, saying something, it counts! You don’t even have to really “know how.”

But if you do want to know how, just ask! There’s no shame in being a beginner, in asking what to do or how to start. Chances are, you know or have heard of someone who can help you. The world is full of kind, clever people who are just waiting for the question, “Can you help me?” “How can I help?” “What can I DO?”

I asked my parents when it came to this. They were happy to help, and even helped me set up this website — and since I asked for this website as a gift, they even helped pay for it! Now my dad takes care of all the complicated tech stuff and my mom edits every post! And my sister started making On Thin Ice— which has really brought the site to life visually. And our good friend Tigress is now adding her voice to the mix, speaking out for endangered animals who have no voices of their own. Thanks, guys! I’m so grateful.

So, in summary:

Start where you are. DO what you can.

Don’t worry what other people might think.

If you want to know how to start, how to make a change, or what it all means, ASK.

Use your voice. Because every voice counts, no matter how small.

Be Inspired

This Earth Day, I’ve gathered a collection of quotes here that I hope will leave you inspired and enlightened as you do your little bit to help the Earth.

We should consider nature our home, not a place to visit.
Roxana Jones

What we see mainly depends on what we look for.
John Lubbock

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall.
Confucius

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert Einstein

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.
Proverb

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller

Nothing is ever impossible. The word itself says, “I’m possible!”
Audrey Hepburn

Teaser for my new graphic story, “Leopard’s Tree”~!

Dear Planet Earth,

I’d like to tell you how beautiful and bountiful you are before that’s all gone. And I’d like to say Thank you.

Love Earth

Thank you, water––that liquid that keeps all alive. That liquid that’s refreshing when climate change makes the days hot, that liquid that gives us the fish we use for food, that ingredient that makes life possible. I am sorry that we are clogging and fogging you with plastic and oil, killing ecosystems that we depend on.

Thank you, fish and birds––those animals that fly and swim, those animals that fed us before we knew much else, those animals that have inspired us to go down deep beneath the waves and high into the skies. I am sorry that we are killing you and feeding you deadly things that are not food.

Thank you, trees––those magnificent towers, much more beautiful than any man has made, that reach to the skies, that give us shelter in a storm, that give us forests to explore, that give us houses and fires that keep us warm on the coldest of nights, that give us inspiration for the accomplishments we have made, and that help us undo what we have done by giving back that oxygen that we replace with carbon dioxide. I am sorry we are killing you for our own personal gain.

Thank you, plants––those living things we ate before we left the trees, those things we make into medicine, those things we make into clothing, those things we use to make our gardens, those things that are bravely standing at the bottom of the food chain, those things we need for countless reasons. I am sorry we are killing you and destroying the vast wildernesses that you have created.

Thank you, mammals––those creatures that we love, those creatures that we are, those creatures that run and dig, those creatures that climb and fly, those creatures that swim and leap, those creatures that kill and eat, those creatures that keep us company when no one else will, those creatures that have armor and fur, those creatures that dominate and co-exist, those creatures that live and die. I am sorry we are killing you, selling you, and using you.

Thank you, soil and rock––that keep us standing, that keep us together with the wegiht of gravity, that provide the minerals that help make us possible, that make life possible, that have been smashed, that have been cracked, that have been eroded, that are older than everything. I am sorry we are drilling into you and bombing you so much that it seems we are at war with you.

And thank you, so, so much, for us. I am sorry, so sorry, that we are destroying ourselves.

Earth, I want you to know that you are the most unique planet that ever was. I want you to know that we love you even if it seems we don’t. I am sorry we have bashed, cracked, fracked, polluted, melted, cut, deforested, neglected, used and abused you.

I only hope we can revive you.

With love,

Tag: Earth Day

Picture This: Earth Day, Any Day