For the Love of Our Earth

  Earth Day... Seriously my favorite "holiday."  Year after year April 22 comes and goes never earning the reverence it should.  Maybe this is why Earth Day is so dear to me.  There is no pomp and circumstance, no gifts, and no family reunions.  I love that a whole day is dedicated to celebrating our Earth.  There is a sense of sincerity that comes with this day.  The people who take the time to observe the day are generally people who give a damn.  The posers aren't interested.  You know those people who celebrate Christmas, but really don't practice Christianity the rest of the year.  Yeah! I said it... Those people leave Earth Day alone.  It has nothing to offer them.  Or so they think. This cosmic body that enables us to carry on with our so called lives is so often neglected and forgotten.  I am no granola baby, but it is an absolute understatement to say that I love my earth.  There is nothing wrong with hugging a tree every now and again. ;)
     As a fourth grade teacher, if I can teach my students one thing on April 22 every year, I will teach them to love the Earth.  Of course we find ways to care for our planet all year long, but Earth Day is a different kind of love.  We spend time reflecting on what the Earth has provided us with, and we make plans for a beautiful future with this planet.  This year Earth Day unfortunately overlapped with our standardized testing weeks. We still observed the holiday, but our options were limited.  Normally I plan a huge unit that involves tie dying old t-shirts to reuse or up cycle and a giant mosaic of the earth created from old magazines.   This year our day was low key. We read Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and ate Love the Earth Cupcakes.  The simplicity of our day seemed so natural.  We loved it!
     Dr. Seuss always brings about great discussions.  He was seriously a brilliant man.  In The Lorax, he uses one word to make a powerful statement. The word "unless" is such an insignificant word, but it implies so much.  Unless what?  Seuss was using it to warn readers that if they don't stop mistreating the planet, things won't turn out good.  This one word applies to so much more. Unless you pick up the book, the book won't get read.  Unless you save your money, bills won't get paid off.  Unless you start writing that graduate school statement of purpose, you will remain without your Master's Degree. Unless you choose to change, things will remain the same. Unless you make the effort, you can't expect progress.  Ok! So obviously I transferred this word to many areas of my life.  Motivation... I needed it-Earth Day brought it. I've got this...