Five Things You Can Do on Earth Day to Fight Global Warming

No. 3: Try Growing Something

Our countdown to Earth Day really has two aims: One is to get people to change, of course. But the secondary goal, perhaps the more instrumental one, is to get people to think about change.

In American society we rush from day to day, crammed with appointments and obligations and bereft of a single moment to try to analyze our lives and think about our impacts on the Earth. It's a great system for supporting capitalism, unlimited growth, and consumer greed. It's a lousy way to help the planet.

Since Earth Day happens in the spring, when things are growing all by themselves anyway (as long as we're not killing them), why not try this modest strategem: Plant something. It could be an herb in a two-inch cup. It could be a few summer bulbs. It could be a patch of wildflowers — heck, just scatter them with some peat moss on an open sunlit spot of ground and watch what happens!

We've spoken before about how planting a tree is one of the most effective things we humans can do to combat carbonization of the atmosphere. If you want to be that ambitious, most nurseries have starters. Pick a good location in your yard and go for it! If you're in the Portland or Vancouver, WA area, check in with Friends of Trees. If you live elsewhere, you also might inquire whether a similar group exists in your area. (Seattle has a neighborhood Tree Fund, for example. In San Francisco, Friends of the Urban Forest is a great resource.)

But if you don't have a yard, or a tree seems too ambitious, you can still derive a sense of doing something for the Earth from just planting and nurturing a new life in your kitchen window or on your back porch. The idea here is to give you a feeling of connection with Nature, our universe's life force. Once you appreciate its wonders you will find yourself incorporating it into everything you think and do. It becomes almost like the perennial Christian question, What would Jesus do?

The Green equivalent: How will Nature fare? How will Earth endure if I do this or that? How will the Planet survive if I fill-in-the-blank?

The first step toward actual change is thinking about change. If you can find the wherewithal to plant a single seed, you'll not only be experiencing the miracle of life, you'll be sowing innumerable seeds of transformation.

— Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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