The more educated our species becomes, the more we seem to distance ourselves from Mother Nature. We poke and prod her as we extract oil and gases from her bowels, and we grind away mountains in search of precious metals or coal or even rocks and boulders. We harvest her majestic timbers and desecrate vast acreages for crops and pastures. Pesticides taint the air that we breathe, the food that we eat and trickle into the ecosystem. Plastics pollute our waters and are belched back onto the no-longer pristine shoreline. Sand Mining destroys marine life and accelerates beach erosion.
Most of us are aware of the problems, but how many of us are speaking up or trying to find a way to make a positive difference? Living near the Pacific Ocean, I witness the destructive forces of the high tides, which seem to be gobbling more and more shoreline. I’ve witnessed illegal shrimp trawling and correctly predicted that dead sea turtles would soon wash ashore. I don’t blame Madre Tierra for trying to buck us off her back!
Take time out to stop and really look at our beautiful Earth. Savor the delicate beauty of a short-lived flower; admire the silhouette of a towering tree against the sky; inspect the precision of a brigade of ants or marvel at the aerial ballet of bird in flight.
The following images and quotes represent my love for this planet and my concern for its future as we approach Earth Day 2013. Z
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will we realise that we cannot eat money. 19th Century Cree Indian
If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. Henry David Thoreau
“The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere they can be alone, alone with the sky, nature and God. For then and only then can you feel that everything is as it should be and that God wants people to be happy amid nature’s beauty and simplicity.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
“Trees are the Earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.” — Rabindranath Tagore
“Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees.” — Karle Wilson Baker
“A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.”
― Walt Whitman
“Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons: It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.” — Walt Whitman
Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world. ~Hans Margolius
“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”
― Jo Walton
“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us even in our soundest sleep… To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” ― Henry David Thoreau
That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. Henry David Thoreau
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” — Albert Einstein
The sun shines not on us, but in us. The rivers flow not past but through us. Nature was made not just for us, but for itself and its own happiness, and is the very smile of the Divine. John Muir
“Nature is not our enemy, to be raped and conquered. Nature is ourselves, to be cherished and explored.”
― Terence McKenna
Some day the earth will weep, she will beg for her life, she will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let her die, and when she dies, you will die too. John Hollow Horn Oglala Lakota 1932
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. John Muir
“Human beings are so destructive. I sometimes think we’re a kind of plague, that will scrub the earth clean. We destroy things so well that I sometimes think, maybe that’s our function. Maybe every few eons, some animal comes along that kills off the rest of the world, clears the decks, and lets evolution proceed to its next phase.”
― Michael Crichton, The Lost World
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences. Robert Green Ingersoll
“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.”
― John Lubbock
“A lake is a landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Global warming is by its very nature a threat, but it is a deadly threat only because it fails to trigger the brain’s alarm. It leaves us sleeping in a burning bed.”
― Dan Gilbert
There is, indeed, a fire burning over the earth, taking with it plants and animals, cultures, languages, ancient skills and visionary wisdom. Quelling this flame, and re-inventing the poetry of diversity is perhaps the most important challenge of our times.”
― Wade Davis, The Wayfinders
“The planet is about to break out with fever, indeed it may already have, and we [human beings] are the disease. We should be at war with ourselves and our lifestyles.” Thomas Lovejoy, scientist, Smithsonian Institution
Our generation has inherited an incredibly beautiful world from our parents and they from their parents. It is in our hands whether our children and their children inherit the same world.
Richard Branson
“What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
― Henry David Thoreau, Familiar Letters
“I have a room all to myself; it is nature.”
― Henry David Thoreau
Do you have a photo that illustrates The Face of Climate Change? Visit Earth Day 2013 and add an image to their collection! Then go outside and spend some time with nature! Z
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
Thank you! You were fast on that one!
Crossing fingers for nature, and enjoying your post.
BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS. Great post.Praying for our world.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
thank you for your kind words. z
Your words are inspired by the love that I know you have for the earth, the quotes show your desire to validate your love so that others will consider their actions and your photos are always amazing.
Thank you, my dear friend. I know that your comment is heartfelt, and it means the world to me. You and Hank care deeply about the earth as well.
Muchas gracias! 🙂 Z
Lisa, The quote from scientist Thomas Lovejoy/Smithsonian…”We should be at war with ourselves and our lifestyles”….exceptionally planet saving appropriate. We are, actually, already at “war with ourselves” but for all the wrong reason(s). Actually…as with all wars…no good reason(s) at all. Exceptional words. All.
Thank you so much! There are so many directions one can go when addressing why the health of our planet is in a kamikaze auger. I realized that there’s so much more I wanted to say, and there’s so much that I have witnessed. Basically most of it comes down to money and man’s greed.
Thank you so much for your feedback!
Lisa/z
great quotes that say it all…. we’re not very good stewards of the creations that God provided for us.
Thanks; the part of this quote rings so true: ” It is in our hands whether our children and their children inherit the same world.”
There is no magic cure or fix that will suddenly halt the damage – it’s like a radiation burn that keeps on burning…we know ways to fix things, but how many people will select the ‘less is more’ attitude? You and I, by our choices of where we live and how we live, are leaving a very healthy footprint – no automobile, we travel by bus or foot or bicycle… no air conditioning – and there no need for heating.
Most of the educated population is not ready to wean into a life like ours!
Wow. Z, you have outdone yourself with the pictures and quotes. I love the Cree, Gilbert and Lakota quotes a great deal. And, the picture of the boy sitting on the fallen tree looking over the ocean seems so profound given the subject, like he is pondering the encroaching tide if we continue to fail to act. Well done, BTG
thank you! i could pen an entire novel and not run out of thoughts regarding this subject!
These are beautifully and thoughtfully put together for the earth day. The more educated our species becomes, the more… –so true. Thank you so much for the inspiring words and photos!
thank you so much. even an increased awareness will help.. z
Thanks Lisa. One of your best posts ever. I cried as I read it. Of course, I have been doing that a lot lately.
Love, Jan
My dear Jan,
I hope that the tears were a bit of a catharsis. I thought of Wayne this past week when I looked at the Museum images and remembered what an enriching visit we had when all of you came to Bahia. Of course you are crying; swallowing grief is not healthy, and the shock of losing him is going to take a long time to heal.
I am sending you extra love, and tonight if the skies are clear, every meteor that I see I will wish that your pain lessens.
Love,
Lisa
Wonderful thoughts and pictures. Thanks for the inspiration, thanks for sharing.
Thank YOU as well! Have a good earth day! z
This is so well done – the quotes are great, the photos are superb, and your own writing – let’s not forget that – it all rings so true. I think you should put a permanent link to this, and feature it, because it says so much about who you are and where you’re coming from, and so eloquently. Masterful!
you are so kind and great! thank you for your suggestions.
every time i see your gravatar, i admire it. i wonder if others realize what those flashes of orange truly are? it’s brilliant! z
A heartfelt post that is so very inspiring. It also brings me close to tears at what has been done to our Mother Earth
Si; with age we become more sensitive, don’t we? It really bothers me when I see the hillsides scalped for pastures or crops or a beautiful tree felled because a road is going through straight and unbending. there’s so much waste. i love how many latin american countries still use returnable bottles for beer and colas.. of course the throw-away bottles and cans are here now as well. when that started, the pollution on the beaches increased, as the streams and rivers flushed them to the sea.
sigh.
thanks so much for your kind comment. z
I was looking for a poem for your post.
But today poetry is written for you in this wonderful post.
Thank you for opening the eyes of many who are blind sometimes.
Carlos
thank you carlos; even when you’re working with images and prose, it’s still poetic. thank you, my #1 contact in argentina!!!
The quote and photos are beautiful, but I love the last one by Thoreau..
The photo with the giant tired tracks in what looks like sand resemble your ‘hand’ painting, only turned sideways and of course not in color. Can you see what I see?
Love your passion.
great eye, amiga! you are so right
1 advance to the head of the class and get your own one-on-one drawing lessons free!!!!
z
If only…
i will go look at that, but i trust what you see! how great! the image is where someone had taken lots of truckloads of sand from the beach and left a huge gaping hole. it’s so sad to see such disrespect for the natural coastline.
i’ll go look at the hand!
Dear Lisa: Human beings like you make the change, thank you Earth´s sister for your worries that must be our worries too. Our home, our planet, our earth needs us, we all have to act and help it right now, and you Lisa are giving us examples of how to help it, thanks again!!!!
teresa! what a sweet and beautiful comment! i am so lucky to have taken that manta shuttle bus, as now i have a new friend for life!
i’ll bet you enjoyed that photo of the ceibo! here’s an entire post about them!
https://playamart.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/the-magnificent-ceibo-trees/
z
Thank you for this beautiful tribute to Mother Earth amiga. Love your photos and love your quotes (gosh you were busy!)
my favorite quote in your list =
“Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees.”
i had never really pondered that, but when i read the quote, i embraced it! yes,trees embrace us, don’t they, and they pull us up into their canopies while reminding us to sink our roots into the ground! z
Beautifully illustrated quotations.
I could combine volumes and volumes of photos paired with beautiful prose and poetry written about our planet! thanks!
Thanks for this Lisa. I will be reblogging it as well. 🙂
thank you, amiga! i’m honored! z
Reblogged this on Paint Your Landscape and commented:
As this is Earth Day today and I am passionate about these precious resources that have been gifted to us, I find this to be the perfect post from the multi-talented, beautiful spirit Lisa.
Wonderful post. Lisa. Those photos and quotes are a marvelous tribute to Mother Earth. That Ingersoll quote is so very true.
yes, there certainly are consequences.
thank you so much for speaking up; maybe this earth day will bring an awakening to those who haven’t noticed what’s happening to our planet.
have a good one!
lisa/z
An ode and a wake up call, so lovingly put together! You are a true champion of this earth Lisa! Love every one of those quotes, but particularly the one by the Cree Indian: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will we realise that we cannot eat money”. Imperative that we all pay heed. Thanks Lisa.
thank you! you are doing a fine job on your side of the planet, and yes, it’s imperative that we pay heed.
z
it can be soul destroying watching the planet get laid to waste.
yes; thankfully there’s still a lot of natural beauty to remind us its worth fighting for. thanks for your comment! z
Indeed, at the moment there is, wonder how long that will last?
Great post.
As Mankind mindlessly extracts resources from the environment with very less thought of sustainability, would you say that we have become a cancer to this living being called Mother Earth?
Shakti
unfortunately you are right, and it appears to metastasize; some people want more and more… as the saying goes, like a hog eating acorns and not looking up to see where they come from.
Simply gorgeous EARTH DAY! Thanks so much! Reminds us of humility !
thank you! i really enjoyed working on this one!
It shows!
An excellent post punctuated and illustrated with fine and appropriate photos.
Some gorgeous pics here. Thank you! Love and peace xox
Truly inspiring quotes, pictures, details. Wonderful!
Thank you.
you are welcome! thank you, marylin. i love all of your posts and am always happy when i see a new one arrive! z
Well done.
How absolutely beautiful !! The Thoreau and Cree quotes have touched me deeply…. thank you so much for this !
you’re welcome. the earth is very special to me, and it pains me to see the damage we are doing to her. thank you for your feedback! z
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“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will we realise that we cannot eat money. 19th Century Cree Indian” So true. I hope it’s not too late.