Earth Day, Every Day

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“A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature.” – Albert Einstein

I went for a walk along the ocean a few days ago. I’ll usually look for any trash to pick up along the way. Sometimes an entire trash bag can be filled. Too easily. This time, I could only find one bottle cap and a tiny ribbon from a balloon. That gives me hope.

How did you celebrate Earth Day? How will you celebrate it throughout the year?

45 thoughts on “Earth Day, Every Day”

  1. I’ve never seen that Einstein quote. It’s wonderful. And your pictures are gorgeous. Love the dog. He looks so happy just to be. 🙂

    • That’s one of my favorite quotes. It’s easy to forget that kind of thing, so I like to read it every once in a while to remind myself. Dogs know how to live, that’s for sure!

  3. Einstein was smart in more ways than one, wasn’t he? I love the snuggling trees. It made me smile.

    With my son in Golden Gate Park. My husband is recovering from food poisoning, so his earth day was not as wonderful. 😀

    • That’s too bad but I hope you and your son were able to have some fun anyway! It sounds like a perfect Earth Day outing. The one of the trees is one of my favorites too. I keep thinking it looks like they’re dancing.

  4. Let’s hope a lack of trash meets you on your next walk. I spent Earth Day indoors, looking out on the welcome rain watering my garden.

  5. Lovely Sheila and I’m glad you are once again surrounded by colour. That small boat in the water reminds me of the one at Giverny, Monet’s gardens… Perhaps the little boat has a story to tell?

    • It does look like it’s trying to tell some kind of a story, like it’s resting after going through a few too many trials. Maybe it somehow wandered here from there. 🙂 We’ll have to keep looking out for colors through the year.

      • Looking for colors… that will be a tough assignment! 😉 Today was a crystal blue sky and all about are brilliant red poppies, Lilacs, Cherry and Apricot blossoms, it is difficult indeed. :)) Even the smell is intoxicating.

      • Wow – that sounds wonderful – enjoy all those colors and smells! Everything is still gray here for now but I’m hoping the bloom will start soon. If not, I might have to move out near you.

      • Moving here? Oh gee, you would hate that… 😉 After all, it is paradise. Tuesday was so warm the beaches were packed.

    • That’s one of the best ways to celebrate – by taking pictures of all the beauty around us. I’m glad the rain is bringing the green out. That really is one of the best colors, especially when you haven’t seen it for a while.

    • Thank you! It was nice to see and that was even before any Earth Day cleanups. Yes, too bad we’re not all as smart as Einstein. 🙂

  8. That dog pic put the goofiest smile on my face! It’s earth day every day in this house, so nothing out of the ordinary. I did have some chocolate and some beer…but that’s kind of a normal thing. 🙂

    • I’m happy to hear that – goofy smiles are the best! It’s funny how dogs can find complete joy everywhere, especially whenever there’s mud around. Chocolate and beer sounds better than mud to me!

  9. That Einstein bloke was really smart, except when it came to getting a decent hair cut. It is strange this obsession with just discarding rubbish wherever we may be, to sully natural beauty is to make a statement about ourselves.

    • Hahha – that’s true! It is sad to see, but then it’s also an opportunity to get it out of circulation before it gets back into the ocean. Hopefully we’ll keep seeing less of it out there. It seems like things are changing for the better in that way (but summer is just around the corner so we’ll see).

      • Summer does tend to bring out the…well you know the sort of people, hopefully a dwindling minority. Beauty makes us happy, it’s a simple correlation and with so many unhappy people in the world the maths, so to speak is simple.

  10. Beautiful quote Sheila, we do need to celebrate life on earth through the appreciation of just being here and soaking up the things around us. I give thanks everyday, when I go for my morning walk. I smile and look up at the towering mountain and say thanks Im still here, at least for another day.

    • That’s the best way to celebrate – to appreciate everything! And for some reason, that’s easy to forget. That’s wonderful that your morning walks remind you of the beauty around us every day.

  11. I love this quotation by Einstein, so very Buddhist. And I also love that you pick up trash along your walk (although how terrible that you have to, that it exists). I always find a little trash alongside my road. I can’t figure out if it’s from people who throw it out their car windows (that seems insane to me) or leftover from recycling day when the wind blows things around.

    A belated Earth Day to you my friend. May every day be Earth Day.

    • Happy Earth Day! 🙂 I wonder where it all comes from too. Hopefully most of it is from the wind blowing it around. I’ve seen lots of people out there picking it up so maybe we’re more aware of that kind of thing these days. Let’s hope that we’re starting to figure that quote out anyway!

  12. I love how Einstein wasn’t just all about the technical parts of intelligence. He was just as creative and conscientious as he was brilliant.

    I can’t stand looking at the roadside and seeing all the litter. Even the playground is trashed after the weekend, and there’s a huge trashcan right at the entrance/exit! How can people not be bothered to throw things away properly? I don’t get it, but I’m really glad your walk yielded only a bottlecap and some ribbon.

    Happy Earth Day, Every Day!

    • I don’t trust those outdoor trashcans – some of that litter could have come from it. I’ve even seen trash fly out of a recycle truck, which is too bad because it was almost in the right place. We just have to keep picking it up so that it’ll eventually get recycled (and figure out how to generate less trash so that it won’t go flying around like that). Happy Earth Day – let’s keep celebrating!

    • Thank you! Tulips are just starting to pop up around here and it’s nice to see the colors after all the snow. I hope you’re enjoying the sunshine!

  14. The Einstein quote is brilliant, and I wish we humans could simply enjoy Life and our world on its terms. Yes, some of our creative spirit is soul-lifting. But too much today is done at the expense of other inhabitants. To be as happy in the moment as that dog appears to be is a rare ability for most of us!

      • All we have to do is roll around in the mud like her. 🙂 That’s the great thing about dogs – they appreciate everything – even mud. I think things are changing all too slowly, but they’re still changing. There’s hope for a better world. We just have to do everything we can to make it better.

  15. What beautiful images, Sheila! Now I want to hop in the car and head to the Cape! That quote is a perfect accompaniment!

  16. I’m so glad to hear you didn’t find much garbage. I don’t understand tossing stuff in the ocean. It takes 1-2 minutes to put trash in a garbage can or recycling bin.

    • I just feel bad for the animals and birds that try to eat the trash, especially those little pieces of plastic. They have enough problems already without choking on something like that. So each piece that’s found is a step toward that not happening.

      • Exactly. It’s not just about making the water gross to look at or swim in, but actually protecting the wildlife. Sometimes people are so carelessly cruel.

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