April & Earth

"April is the cruelest month, breeding/Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/Memory and desire, stirring/Dull roots with spring rain."

I re-read TS Eliot’s "The Waste Land" the other day, anticipating the onset of the "cruelest month" which marks spring in the western hemisphere and, for us, the start of the scorching days of summer.

April is when we celebrate Earth Day, and this year the occasion is particularly significant because of the generally accepted conclusion that our planet faces serious problems because we have not been good stewards.

"Global warming" is the new catch phrase, thanks in large part to Al Gore and an Oscar award. But also because what used to be the concern of scientists and climatologists and assorted environmentalists have, in the last year or two, become our concern too, with unusual off-season typhoons packing unusually strong force, resulting in death and damage over a wide area. Melting ice caps may be too far away for us to grasp its significance, but powerful typhoons like Milenyo and Reming hitting us late in the year, after the regular typhoon season, is cause for serious concern.

The problem isn’t just global warming and climate change. It’s water and energy and land—supply, management, distribution, and use. It’s the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. It’s how we manage our waste, and how much waste we create.

The problems are great, and wide ranging. But so are the solutions—and there are solutions—and the people who are working to find and effect solutions; we start this week with an acknowledged Champion of the Earth. Especially this month, we will highlight issues concerning Earth, both positive and negative. For only when we become aware of the issues can we begin to re-build a better world.