Earth Day 2025

Day 192: There is so much going on right now which grieves me to the very core of my being: opening of marine sanctuaries to commercial fishing, the doors of old-growth forest and crucial habitat for endangered species being flung wide to admit logging trucks, environmental protections being revoked with wanton and criminal abandon, that it is hard for me to include the word "Happy" in an Earth Day greeting. On this, a day when we should be celebrating the beauty around us, I feel compelled to offer counsel instead. Love your Mother. Respect her. Defend her. She needs you now more than ever before.

Happy Earth Day!

Day 191: Happy Earth Day! With the possibility of showers in the forecast, I stuffed my new day-pack accordingly and set out for Pack Forest, intending to hike the 200-300 Rds. as an invasive-plant patrol. The loop I had charted out required very little backtracking and measured out at four miles, an easy walk, although portions of the route had become quite brushed in by Scotch broom (that's one). For the first part, the road lies beneath the high-tension lines from the hydro plant at LaGrande, a swathe liberally filled with common tansy (that's two) and foxglove (that's three). The occasional holly tree (that's four) crops up between evergreens. At its intersection with the 300, the 200 continues on to the river, but my goal was to complete the 300 loop. Here, the broom had encroached heavily onto the first quarter mile of road since I last walked it three years ago, but once into the reprod (reproduction forest), I found it largely carpeted with moss. At the furthest possible point from the car as measured by my GPS, a few raindrops tapped me on the head as I knelt down to photograph Snow Queens. "Of course!" I said. "It couldn't have happened any other way!" But the shower was short-lived, and I completed the top of the figure-8 trail wet only where my trousers had collected moisture as I pushed through the Scotch broom. A short section of the main road was lined on both sides with Stinky Bob (that's five) and in one spot, a mass of Spanish hyacinth (that's six), and the last leg of the hike took me into a section I'd never visited before. The only invasive present there was Scotch broom, in places so dense that it had crowded out everything else. That said, I met some friends along the way: two snails, one cow elk, and a chickadee I could have sworn knew me from home for the way he tagged along at my side for several hundred yards. Nature provides such rewards as these for those who are kind to her and her creatures. Walk softly in the woods.

Respect Our Earth

Day 191: "The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature." Any birdbrain ought to be able to see the sense of Zeno of Citium's philosophy, but somewhere you humans lost the thread and decided that our world's resources were for your exclusive exploitation, and now look at the mess it's got you in. You have rising sea levels, rampant wildfires, incursions of invasives, polluted air, and that's just to name a few of the things your greed has brought to pass. I'd have thought those opposable thumbs you're always bragging about might have meant that you'd use your hands to do good, rather than to destroy. I mean, we're kinda helpless in that regard. We can't defend ourselves against what you're doing to our planet, but you're not just hurting us. You're hurting yourselves. And still you don't learn. If you could fly, maybe a bird's-eye view would give you a better perspective. Today is Earth Day. For just a minute, think about the other creatures who share this world. We're all in this together, you know.

Earth Day 2018

Day 191: Above any other motto which might apply to my life, Zeno's words are the light which guides me. I'm not the best example by any stretch, but I *try,* and that is something we all can do. It's hard to avoid plastics in this throw-away culture of ours, and it's next to impossible to function in a civilized country without consuming fossil fuels of one sort or another. While refusing plastic bags and committing ourselves to recycling are steps in the right direction, it is my considered opinion that our greatest impact might come from a willing reduction in consumerism. Consider what you're about to buy: do you really need it? Could you make do with a second-hand version? Will the old one suffice for another year or two, even though it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newest model? And consider what you're planning to throw away: do you know someone who'd make use of your unwanted items? Don't sell them. Pass them along, and break the "money chain" which drives the engines of consumerism. On this Earth Day, I offer another of my life-slogans: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." And don't think it doesn't make a difference. Even the small things count.

Earth Day

Day 191: Happy Earth Day, and it could hardly be more typically "Pacific Northwest" than what's blustering outside my windows at the moment. The wind has already begun and rain is to follow; I'll be marching for science despite the weather. After all, little fellers like these Stream Violets (Viola glabella) need someone to stand up for them. It's not just about polar bears and shrinking glaciers, the big things which make the news. There are thousands...yes, I said thousands...of species of plants, animals, insects, etc. which are on the verge of extinction. Certainly it can be argued that extinction is part of the natural process and I will not debate that, but for it to occur over such a wide range of species in so short a period of time indicates that there is more going on than can be laid to natural order. Whether the process can be slowed is debatable, but we can take steps to keep it from accelerating. The choice rests with us: do we want our children's children to choke and starve on a sick and dying world, or do we want to sacrifice a few creature-comforts so that our own species can survive?

Calypso In White

Day 192: Happy Earth Day! No day goes by that I do not marvel at the Earth's wonders. Admittedly, an inordinate amount of that marvelling is conducted flat on the forest floor, heedless of mud and dirt whether I'm in uniform or not. Consequently, I frequently return to my desk after lunch with fir needles in my hair, bits of moss clinging to my elbows, pantlegs wet to the knees, and exultant over my latest find. Yesterday's gem was a white Calypso Orchid, discovered in the storm-ravaged Longmire Campground. It had been spared by the heavy equipment brought in to remove toppled trees and massive root wads, though what its future might be is open to conjecture. These delicate orchids like shady spots, and with almost 70 trees gone, the campground is a much sunnier site.

It was determined that the storm which caused the damage was a microburst, a localized pocket of high wind lasting only a few minutes. If you will, think of it as a sneeze on Mother Nature's part, and without the benefit of a hankie. The force exerted by her "achoo" on standing trees would be comparable to an unshielded human sneeze upon a desktop littered with confetti, over and done before the effects had time to settle. A human sneeze is difficult to suppress, but Ma Nature doesn't try. Nor do we when we're not out in polite company.

While I am thankful that she turned her head and spared the majority of the Calypsos, I cannot fault Ma for clearing her sinuses. After all, downbursts are as natural as wildflowers, and tree-fall is part of the process of succession in a healthy forest.

Footnote: white Calypsos are not a separate sub-species of Calypso bulbosa. Although far less common than the familiar magenta form, they are simply a colour variation.