The Earth Day Celebration

 Yesterday a few individuals came together to share with each other and the public, their ideas of dealing with the climate crisis with personal actions, with hope, and with community efforts.

From 9:30 setting up on a somewhat chilly morning, when the rain was just putzing out to nothing, to a windy gusty 1:10 when we left, it was a great joining together of dedicated people.

Free seeds and a few plants. I brought home some kind of orchid, which was donated without a name.

Some great artistic posters were hung on one side.

The Swannanoa Watershed Action Network had prepared well, and just put together their display. Here are Hanna, R.J. and Carlos. There will be more photos of others on this crew later.

Robert was handy with a hammer

Suzanne Ziglar might be considered the mother of this event. Here she set up a portion of her climate crisis conversation art installation. 

 A Conversation: Climate Disruption, Human Displacement,

 and Reconnection by Suzanne Ziglar

The display of humans interacting with the climate crisis leads to idenfying our emotions, sharing them, and coming up with what ways we can do something in our own lives. This has included discussions of our recycling habits, our use of plastics, and even our personal care products to examine how many chemicals we use. It is also an important way to build a community!

Free seeds were available on the table with the blue table cloth. I didn't get a chance to talk with the Creation Care Alliance person, but was glad that she was there. Working on our grief issues in regards to the climate crisis is important.

Jean was our artist in residence, making art booklets out of scraps. She also made the banner.

Anna and Sue and Robert discussed some good ideas in agreement.  Sue brought free samples of a detergent strip which replaces the huge containers of powder or liquid to wash clothes.

Bette Bates gave Carlos Espinosa a sample of something to taste...I don't know what it was. She gathered lots of products that are either ethically made without the use of plastic, or represent alternatives to plastic.

This is the way the picnic pavilion looked from the lake.

Our banner and one from the creation care alliance.

We were so very grateful that the 5 hours of thunderstorms had passed by 9:30 when we were arriving. And though the temperature was colder, we were visited by many more people than if the rain had continued. We did have wind gusts that took down some of our displays, but everthing came out ok.

And I will continue with more photos tomorrow of some of the activities we did!

Today's quote:

Dorothea Lange said:

“You know, so often [photography] is just sticking around and being there, remaining there, not swooping in and swooping out in a cloud of dust; sitting down on the ground with people, letting the children look at your camera with their dirty, grimy little hands, and putting their fingers on the lens, and you let them, because you know that if you will behave in a generous manner, you’re very apt to receive it, you know? People are very, very trusting; and also, most of us really like to get the full attention of the person who’s photographing you. It’s rare, you don’t get it very often. Who pays attention to you, really, a hundred percent? Your doctor, your dentist, and your photographer.”