Sing to the Earth a New Song

“How could the patient pine have known
The morning breeze would come,
Or humble flowers anticipate
The insect’s noonday hum?”

Henry David Thoreau, “The Inward Morning”

Earth Day 2026. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network), including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. Inspired by a massive oil spill from a well near Santa Barbara, California, the response was immediate, powerful, and bi-partisan. An estimated 20 million Americans took part in rallies, marches, and teach-ins calling for environmental reform. It is said to be the largest secular day of protest in the world, with up to 1 billion participating in Earth Day actions every year. It was not all “tree huggers” who made it possible. The single largest contributor then was the UAW- the United Auto Workers. Without their (financial) support, it would not have been possible.

Fifty-six years later, the theme is” Our Power, Our Planet”. The day emphasizes collective action, accelerating the transition to renewable energy, and community-driven environmental protections. (Check your local area to see what options are available). It is a wonderful reminder of the need for our collective action to honor and “return” to the earth.

It is said at funerals, that “From dust (earth) were we created, and to the dust (earth) we shall return”. True to a certain extent. However, it is a fairly materialist and personalizing understanding, and the implications are much broader. First, we do not have to “die” physically to enter into that sacred space of the Sanctuary we call the Earth. What is needed is the “death” of the primacy of our own egoic and individualistic wants and desires. The Earth has enough to meet all of our needs, if we honor it. We project upon Her our fears and wants, and from this scarcity we greedily molest and desecrate her. That single oil spill set in motion an awareness of the preciousness of this “Blue Marble”.

I do not think it is purely random that 1969 was the same year that we first left the earth to see Her from the Moon. The famous “Blue Marble” picture taken in December 1972 by the Apollo 17 crew was from the sixth, and final, manned mission to the moon. Finally, we were able to get a visual perspective of the extraordinary specialness of our planet. But we needed then to “return to Earth” with that illumined awareness. This understanding is being sorely tested today. Everywhere there are new threats to the environment- globally as well as here in the United States.

What can we do given the hurricane-strength headwinds of climate denial and environmental forces? Plenty! First, look into local initiatives that are engaged in activities that can counter this blasphemy. There are innumerable community gardens and garden clubs, environmental action groups, and for those who feel called- write your government officials demanding we take actions to ensure the continued health of our Home.

Spring is the time for planting…visit your local nursery and inquire which plants support our pollinators- the butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds, and bees. We all have different interests- find an activity that says, “I am doing this because I love it, and I am doing it to help our Planet.” Do it with Love and Awareness.

There is another part of this Great Garden. It is what I call the “Edenic” part. It is our own inner garden. I felt this today most strongly upon reading, and re-reading Thoreau’s poem on the “Inward Morning”. I asked myself – “What is the state of my inner Garden?” What seeds (of Joy and Peace and Love) have I planted? How have I tended to that Garden? Do I water it regularly? Is it well “weeded” (i.e. unkind and unconscious thoughts)? If I seek only to work in the outer Garden, our common Earth, to create Good, and do not allow my Inner Garden to grow and prosper, will anything truly Good be accomplished?

My commitment this year is to plant seeds of Peace and Joy and Love, even as I sow seeds of outer activities. I am deeply engaged in supporting various environmental and ecological programs, even as I engage in supporting local gardens (including my own). This year, I will also look inward to my own soil (and those of my fellow man) in the hopes of enriching it to support the sprouting of seeds that will grow into mighty plants…even as the mustard seed grows into the tallest of plants. I invite you to do the same.