It's Earth Day

It’s Earth Day and finally we have a sunny day suggesting spring is really here.

My last email was from a colleague who said he’s having some trouble keeping his usual optimism. A journalist, his job is to keep tabs on all that’s going on. You know, what’s ‘news.’ There’s little doubt that today’s news generally sucks. I have little doubt he’s getting worn down.

But optimism, especially on Earth Day, isn’t about what we find in the news.

The maple tree outside my office window doesn’t say much, but the pale green bursting forth on the branches today screams spring. The tree has a fresh Marley-like look and is singing “get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight!”

You don’t hear that from trees? You’re not listening. Too often I don’t either, yet that tree is out there every day. What else each year, without you doing anything, busts forth with such a robust statement of joy? The tree is making thousands of leaves right outside my window! What am I doing just sitting here? Get Up. Stand Up.

Optimism? Here’s another place I just got some.

Way up north, in the Panhandle, we’ve had a super difficult time working with a group who’ve convened to work on natural resource issues. To say this relationship had gone bad would be, well, understatement. A big one.

Earlier this week we gathered at the local bookstore after hours. A few of us in a circle. Some ICL staff and members.  The mayor. A county commissioner. The head of the Native tribe. U.S. Senate staff. We were all anxious and it showed. But then we began to open up. You might even say we all began to step up. It doesn’t matter how we got there, what matters is we’re going to try, however tentatively, to move forward instead of keep falling back.

It’s Earth Day. It’s sort of a holiday for conservationists. It’s a good time to find that bit of optimism to keep going. It’s a good time to think about not just what we do to protect the environment, but what we should do differently to do a better job of it.

On this Earth Day let me say how grateful I am for what I get to do everyday. Working to preserve the planet is profoundly inspiring. The Idaho we love gives us all a boost.  But I get an even bigger boost from people, all of you who pull the oars with us each day. I’m also inspired by our ‘opponents,’ sometimes inspired by actions we must respond to, but also by those I have the courage to not see as opponents. We are all just people, sitting in a circle on this blue and green planet, trying to do a better job.

It’s Earth Day...