happy earth day

Happy Earth Day.

On April 26th, my husband and I will be working on a park clean-up. This particular Earth Day celebration is a bit late this year, but just as well. As my friend Greg pointed out, “Every day is Earth Day.” The weather was awful on the 19th. It kept hailing throughout the weekend (maybe this was a message).

I am celebrating it by going to see the Yarn Harlot and participating in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts replica of Toronto’s Inexplicable Knitting Behavior yarn crawl. I am buying some carbon offsets to offset the driving around for the day (even though this may be an empty gesture). (Here’s an article about the debate.) I will also celebrate it all summer by going to my local oregon farmers’ market every Friday and Saturday. (I still have two localities). It isn’t much of a gesture since I’m its’ program coordinator, but I will definitely support it!

Many of you know that I work in the environmental field. It’s hard to call it a career since I’ve bounced around so much: administrator at a land trust, environmental law paralegal, national environmental policy act coordinator,  leed a.p., volunteer sustainability programs coordinator and programs coordinator. What I actually do is coordinate programs and information and I’m best at ones that have to do with community and environmental issues.

I want to share with you some books and papers that changed my life when I was 17.

• The End of Nature – Bill McKibben
• Home Economics – Wendell Berry
• The Tragedy of the Commons – Garrett Hardin (Please note: I am not a fan of lifeboat ethics.)
• The Land Ethic – Aldo Leopold
• Encounters with the Archdruid – John McPhee
• The Control of Nature – John McPhee

These are three books I really like.

• Cradle to Cradle – Bill McDonough
• The Omnivore’s Dilemna – Michael Pollan
• Cadillac Desert – Marc Reisner.

It’s interesting to see what influences me now versus what influenced me at 17.

Here are some books that are Pacific Northwest and Oregon specific.

• Landscapes of Promise – William G. Robbins
• The Greening of Ben Brown – Michael Strelow
• Empty Nets – Roberta Ulrich
• A Richer Harvest – Ed. Craig Wollner and Tracy Dillon

These are other books on my book shelf that I’ve been meaning to read/finish.

• Desert Solitaire – Edward Abbey
• Last Chance to See – Douglas Adams
• The Blind Watchmaker – Richard Dawkins
• Earth in Mind – David Orr
• Ecology of a Cracker Childhood – Janise Ray
• Water Wars – Vandana Shiva
• The Small-Mart Revolution – Michael Shuman
• The Creation – E.O. Wilson
• The Future of Life – E.O. Wilson
• Run River Run – Ann Zwinger

Got any you’d like to add?