Happy Earth Day!

| Christie

“We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” – Chief Seattle

As the days become longer, and the skies sunnier, we see and hear the birds more often, building nests and calling for a mating partner. It’s the spring time, again, with small flowers emerging through the last layers of snow, with birds singing happily around. The spring that brings everything alive, and never fails to bring us joy! Except maybe for some late snow falls, known under different names, such as “Onion snow”, “Robin snow”, or “Lambing snow”. Nevertheless, the spring is here😊

After a long winter, time we got so used with the white snow, it’s time to see a dramatical change in the scenery. While we wait the greenery replacing the dull landscape, the melting snow uncovers less gracious aspects, sometimes.

Living very close from Riverwood Conservancy, I developed a personal connection, naming the park sometimes “my park”, as I often end my walks along some of its trails. Credit River flows through the park, offering a great habitat to so many birds, and not only. With an ongoing growth of the city of Mississauga, the park has become even more popular, and you will not be surprised if you find no parking available on a sunny day.

But at this time of the year, many paths and trails may not be appealing to you, same as many fields across the city. I’m sure the municipality will send someone to clean the city soon.

I often think that our Earth does not deserve so much litter, and wonder sometimes what can we do better, to ensure our children will have a safe environment to live in. Plastic bottles, wrappers, and plastic bags seem to be the most common debris, and periodically blown away by the strong winds that became so frequent. Indeed, the plastic is our biggest enemy, as it might take up to 500 years to decompose. And if this does not sound bad enough, a worse scenario is the Styrofoam, as it is more harmful to the environment since it is not recyclable.

Heading down to your local park and picking up some trash might not be what you have in mind while going for a walk, but taking very little time to pick a thing or two might not do any harm (using gloves, of course). Actually, it will only give you a good feeling that you’re helping your community, your family. It is known that people who engage in kind actions become happier over time.

But the term “happiness” itself is debatable. Once, while I was waiting at an intersection, the driver from the car in front of me opened the door and threw away a full pizza box. I believe medium size, or large, as it didn’t fit through the window. He must have felt great if he did a such gesture. I played over and over, in my head, the scenario where someone would pick the box up from the middle of the street, and toss it back in his lap telling him “Hey Mr, you forgot something!”

As a consumer society, we tend to forget what is behind the marketplace. We like everything being packed in small sizes – it’s easing our life a lot, isn’t it? – but we fail to think where all those plastics, paper, Styrofoam wrappings end up. Being aware of how much litter is spread throughout the cities (and not only) may change our vision about a healthy environment. We don’t need to wait for Earth Day to do a good deed. We can get involved with any local organizations, or group of volunteers if we like to be social, or we can do it solo, or with a group of friends when the time permits. Taking care of our parks and paths doesn’t mean we need to clean up the city.

The small gesture of throwing properly our own garbage, ensuring it doesn’t go into the nature means a lot. That we leave no trace, and no garbage behind when we go walking or hiking. Or even at home, with so many strong winds and climate change, we can ensure our bins are closed properly at all times, so no risk to fly something away.

Canada is about to ban single-use plastic straws, cutlery, and bags by the end of 2022. We shall see. We already see paper straws in certain coffee shops, which are not really fun to sip with. You will figure out why, if you do😊 But well, we need to move on!

Is your country/community implementing measures to reduce pollution? What do you think we can all do better to minimize our carbon footprint?

On a happier note, this is how Riverwood Conservancy looks like when it comes back to life, hope you will enjoy this little video from last year😊

Live, Travel, Explore, and have a Happy Earth Day!!

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29 thoughts on “Happy Earth Day!”

  1. Happy Earth day 🙂 The plastics invasion of the planet is a reality, and if we want to save the planet, the time has come for each and every one of us to take action. I am still in awe of those who use single-use plastics such as drinking straws and plastic bags. I am not perfect, and I am still learning about ways to eliminate plastic from our lives. I have spent many years blindly purchasing products with unnecessary plastics, and I continue to make mistakes. Here’s a fun little “rule” I try to remember: Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Repair then Recycle. Thanks for sharing and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx

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    1. To be honest I still use plastic bags on occasional circumstances. But I always reuse it, as a can liner for our small garbage can under the sink. Why buying another can liner when we can re-use these bags😉
      Wishing you a great week ahead🙂 Christie, xx

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  3. Happy Earth Day. Thank you for this lovely post and the reminders it offers to live more consciously. There are no easy answers. We all, every one of us needs to understand and appreciate all our planet offers us. Perhaps then we’ll see some change. I too created a video on the beauty of our planet. Stop by my blog, if you wish, to watch it. Thanks for sharing this post.

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  7. Happy Earth Day. It’s unbelievable the amount of trash and plastic we’ve seen on the trails over the past couple of years now that more people are hiking and enjoying the outdoors. We usually try to pick some of the garbage up (depending what it is).

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    1. Thank you, Linda! As we drive quite a bit along 401, I stare in disbelieve at how much trash is on all the slopes along the Hwy, there is no single patch garbage free.
      Have a beautiful week, Christie xx

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      1. I love that a quote of Chief Seattle (my home town is named for him) is on display in Florida. He was an influential leader and encouraged ecological responsibility. He would be greatly saddened to witness the current state of our planet.

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  10. It’s a huge issue, isn’t it, and one that masks have made even worse. I hate being in a beautiful place and there on the ground lies a mask, discarded or forgotten. Why can’t we act responsibly, Christie? I really don’t understand it. We do pick up litter, with a certain revulsion and always the feeling that we shouldn’t need to do this. But I’m glad Spring is coming your way.

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    1. Lots of questions with no answer, unfortunately.. we definitely should not pick after other people litter. But also the strong winds will contribute to the mess if they happen to riot on the garbage day. Always something..
      Cheers, xx

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  11. Ich würde mir wünschen, dass die Mensch aus Bequemlichkeit auf vermeidbaren, ich nenne ihn mal Strassenmüll verzichten würden. Mir ist es nicht klar warum man mit einem Kaffebecher durch die Fußgängerzone spazieren muß. Anschließen landen diese Becher auf der Strasse. Aber nicht nur hier finde ich diese Becher auch weitab von Städten stoße ich bei meinen Runden durch die Natur auf solche Becher . Man muß sich mal etwas mehr mit diesen Becher auseinander setzen um zu erkennen, womit wir es da zutun haben. Eine Portion Kaffee besteht in der Regel aus dem Becher , ein Deckel, Milch und Zucker uñd zum Schluß noch ein Stick zum umrühren. Das alles auch schön verpackt in Plastik und das alles für ein Einmalgetränk. Der Becher besteht aus Pappe für den tausende von Bäume im brasilianischen Urwald fallen müssen. Dazu kommt das dich der Becher wegen seiner inneren Kuststoffhaut sehr schwer Recycteln lässt.Warum man einen Stick braucht, um den Kaffee umzurühren und ihn dann wegwirft ist mir nicht klar. In manch Städten wurde dieser Becher zu einem echten Problem , überfüllte Mülleimer nur gefüllt mit solchen Bechern haben dazu geführt das die Ausgabe verboten wurde. Ich würde mir wünschen das viele Städte folgen oder die Menschen zu einem Mehrwegbecher greifen.
    Es gibt im Internet ein Beitrag der aufzeigt welch Mengen Rohstoff benötigt wird für eine Tasse Kaffe to go . Also ich würde mich lieber gemütlich in ein Cafe setzen.
    Liebe Grüße Werner der Vogelknipser

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    1. Sorry for the late reply, I was sick these days; the virus got me, eventually..
      Thank you for your thoughtful message, Werner! You are so right, so many people holding a cup these days. Same in Canada, people are everywhere with either a phone, or a cup in their hands. It looks like we don’t know what to do with our hands while walking.
      On the other hand, there are very few things truly recyclable due to the glue, or the plastic they are made with. And even the cardboard is only recyclable up to 6-7 times.
      Hope all is well! Warm regards, cheers, Christie

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