Welcome to "Caring for the Earth" message board.
- Daniel Uvanovic, Webmaster   18 Nov 2004

The National Arctic Wildlife Refuge is threatened by legislation favoring the oil industry. I beg all who read this: Do all you can to help the Sierra Club protect this region of irreplaceable beauty on our planet.
- K.v.R., USA   19 Nov 2004

A friend taught me a truly helpful trick: Whenever he goes on walks, he brings a plastic shopping bag carefully rolled up in his pocket. It's small and virtually weighless, yet an invaluable tool. Whenever he sees litter, he uses the bag to pick it up and then has an easy way to carry it. This technique helps me over the hurdle of "yuck" that sometimes accompanies picking up litter.
- PAC, New York   19 Nov 2004

The present drought makes all of us in this area aware how much we depend on water. I think it is one of earth's greatest gifts.
- D. Phillips, Denver   19 Nov 2004

As a child I studied and learned all the things it takes to get drinkable water to the tap in my house. I have never forgotten those lessions.
- ekv, Ca, USA   19 Nov 2004

I dearly remember what Br.David said in a talk this autumn: after visiting Africa he fixed a little red point at his water tap. Every time he takes water he remembers the drought in Africa and is grateful for the water running from the tap
- Murad, Germany   19 Nov 2004

I'm grateful for GRATEFULNESS. The website provides a cyberspace community of companions for an ecological age. The information and inspiration move me to action, especially in my local communities. Blessings of giving thanks time to all!
- aar, Cliffside Park, NJ   20 Nov 2004

How wonderful to have a place to honor our dear Mother Earth with all its beauty and gifts to each one of us! For many years I have greatly enjoyed outdoor work around my home, planting flowers, trimming & pruning, etc. Now I am no longer physically able to do these things, but do so appreciate God's gift to us through the earth. Surely it is our common Ground!
- AMES, USA   20 Nov 2004

I joined freecycle.org, a national organization with local chapters that shares and gives things that would other wise end up in the landfill. We never exchange money. I've given craft items, frames, sheets, a fish tank, and un-needed vaccume bags to others that can use them. It is a simple and easy way to keep the landfill clear of thigs that can be used. I also stopped using any kind of plastic wrap. Waxed paper seems to be just as good for 99% of my needs. Try this old fashioned wrap again. It is biodegradable.
- DYW, Melbourne, Florida   20 Nov 2004

My compassion goes out to the diminishing species who have lost their habitat to human encroachment, particularly the wolves who would balance our ecology if we gave them the chance. In Alaska last year they "harvested" several hundred wolves through aerial hunting, giving the wolves no chance to survive. This year their goal is 900. If you wuld call the governor and object, perhaps it could help.
- BGx, Eau Claire WI   20 Nov 2004

For anyone looking for a vehicle to send letters to politicians or sign petitions regarding environmental issues, here are a few web sites: www.saveourenvironment.org www.ifaw.org www.sierraclub.org www.thepetitionsite.com www.wildcanada.net
- ls, canada   20 Nov 2004

The summer of 2002, I housesat in Colorado where they had been having a drought for several years. I watered the garden on the assigned days, for the assigned time. I saved "gray water" to use also. I turned on the shower to wet myself, turned it off to soap, and back on to rinse. I learned a lot about water conservation that month. When I returned home to the midwest, where at the time, we had plentiful water, I had a whole new way of looking at our most valuable resource. I now practice the same conservation methods used during drought and try to explain the methods and why to my friends. We can't wait until the crisis gets worse or until it makes us personally uncomfortable to take action! I'm grateful for anything that takes me out of my own little world and makes me aware that we are all together in the world.
- LLM, Illinois   20 Nov 2004

Remembering to love and honor my own body, as part of nature, reminds me to love and honor the world around me. Remembering to pause in my daily busyness to notice, love and honor the natural world around me, reminds me to inhabit my own body more fully, to feel my connection to the earth, and to listen to spirit. This reality gives me the hope I need to take positive action.
- AW, Ithaca NY   20 Nov 2004

reality is a message of constance and Imperance, as all "gray water" or light. I have not been showering much, as to the drought, we are unitied in the reality that color is blind. In the four connors of the us we are recieving the gratifulness for all. gratiful, gratefulness how reality is love
- debara bruhn, earth, utah   21 Nov 2004

I blend each day's kitchen scraps (vegetable and fruit peels, cores, etc., coffee grounds and leftover coffee, egg shells) in a Vita Mix blender and give this cocktail to plants and flowers in the garden. Over the years, the soil has greatly improved.
- R. Zemek, Phoenix   21 Nov 2004

I'm very delighted to find this new place on your site. My husband and I are trying to become more waterwise in the house and garden and more aware of our energy use. We have connected with a group called Earthlink which has immeasureably increased our knowlege of the universe and heightened our sensitivity to issues impacting on earth and encouraged us to do what we can to address them. Great people, great place.
- ml, Australia   21 Nov 2004

Thank you for this most important initiative! Developing and cultivating a sentiment of caring for the Earth is essential to our personal transformation and the need to change our societal priorities. I have just returned from the Baja of Mexico where I guided a Sacred Passage / Way of Nature awareness training and Wilderness Solo. Each person had a close encounter with a Whale. While this was a profound gift for each, it signals that our World's Oceans and the magnificent beings who live there are deeply threatened. The Whale migration is easily two or three months pre-mature! I humbly surrender in gratitude for the gift of caring for the Earth and pray this administration will stop it's extractive and exploitive policies immediately.
- Bud Wilson, Boulder, Colorado   22 Nov 2004

Thank you for this wonderful site and the chance to share what others are doing to show their appreciation the creation we have been blessed with. I have been visiting in the central states thru Nov. and have been dumfounded to see that there is no recycling done here. It is simply a matter of course for me to separate my papers, pop cans, bottles, milk jugs and tins and to rinse them and put them in the proper recycling containers. Our gov't does everything possible to encourage the return and recycling of every kind of reusable container and proper disposal of any toxic material thru environmental levies and return depots. We only have one earth after all and God isn't about to give another one if we destroy this one. We have to respect and care for our home.
- sfp, surrey, bc, canada   22 Nov 2004

Thankyou for this informative and caring site.I hope to appreciate the gift of water more and be sensitive to conservation like not running the faucet more than necessary,thanking God each time I take a drink of water and praying for those who do not have what I do.
- norberta, maine   23 Nov 2004

What a wonderful site! Each day I look around and see the wonders of our world. I feel grateful to have enough water to drink each day and when I see a little lamb or calf in the field, by being vegan I know that I wont be deliberately adding to the pain and suffering of that or any other animal. Please think compassionately and consider becomming vegetarian/vegan. Thank you.
- Dee, England   27 Nov 2004