Rocket Fuel for the Green and Sustainable Family
Rocket Fuel for the Green and Sustainable Family: Volume I: The Basics One
There is a lot of talk today, serious discussion, about abandoning Planet Earth for Mars or another sphere. Well, you can count me out. Like billions of others, I call this place home, and I am not about to jump ship and head for a rusty red new beginning. It is true if we are really reading the news, the predictions for our future are dire. We most likely went over the tipping point in global warming some thirty years ago. Our goal right now is to minimize damage and keep our species, as well as other species of the Earth, alive.
This is all very overwhelming. It sure overwhelms me, and I have been on the green path, basically, forever. It is never too late to start raising green-minded kids. I can remember, as a small child, coveting my packs of Ferry Morse seeds, mostly, easy-to-grow flowers, like California poppies and nasturtiums. Who knew then that the nasturtiums were actually edible? Indeed, I had my own little patch in my father’s organic Victory Garden. I first loved eating vegetables when I tasted the fresh leaf lettuces and tomatoes he grew.
Back then during the 1960s winters were much harsher here in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, the highest city in the state. We are some 1,800 feet above sea level. I have always felt more comfortable living in the mountains than near the sea. Call it clairvoyance; however, having spent two decades living in the New York City Area, I could and still can feel the sea levels rising. And where are the sea walls to hold back the tide? While I write about these projects in this book, this is a compilation of basics of green living meant not to overwhelm us. If one billion people address the small details of green life, eight billion— and perhaps 12 billion have a chance to survive.
I personally do not have the resources to build a coastline of sea walls, yet I remain a dedicated environmental activist, accepting imperfections and laboring as I can to do better. Our family life is a mixture of daily victories mixed with some inevitable failures. Of course, I will be addressing both sides of this greeny coin. You don’t have to be perfect to take the first steps along the path of environmental activism. In fact, you may have a toxic view of activism. Maybe you have seen demonstrators somewhere in the world trampled. Do you connect the word “activist” with violence? Please don’t make that mistake.
While being an “activist” may sound terrifying to many of you, don’t let the word set you back into inaction. There is just no time for that. There are many ways to be an activist. In fact, if you plant an organic garden, or begin to keep bees, you are definitely part of the solution, rather than the problem.
Thus, whether I am talking to you about planting a poison-free garden, moving to a more sustainable home-sweet-home, telecommuting or myriad other green alternatives, they all have to do with personal activism.
At the time of this writing, the Trump Administration has gutted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and wildfires are consuming great swaths of California. This is no time to blab about cycles of warming and cooling of the Earth. Yes, we have had these before; however, during each one, it took millions of years for the planet to warm up or cool down.
At age 58, I am hardly a fossil, but I have come to contain history. As little as 20 years ago, my organic garden abounded with bees, and I grew enough produce to feed my city block. Every year since yields and bees have diminished, and the bees that enter the yard seem sick, lethargic, dying.
In my life, here in Alpine Appalachia where coal was once king, bees are the canaries in my coal mines. Their message is our message overflowing with the agony on the horizon if we do not wake up fast.
This book can help you become a part of the army of one billion green soldiers. Will you join us?
Copyright 2018 by Maria Jacketti
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