The Daily: 22 April 2025

Posted on by Eliza Daley

Earth Day

Earth Day was created in 1970 as a direct political challenge. Wisconsin’s Senator Gaylord Nelson wanted the US government to do what government is supposed to do — protect its people and lands from rapacious business. He created Earth Day and organized the first demonstrations across the country to force the hand of politicians. And it worked. A few months after that first day of mass protest, the EPA was created along with many of our foundational acts of environmental protection.

Most of which the current assholes are working feverishly to dismantle…

I believe every day is Earth Day, but some are more earthy than others. On this day, if I’m not participating in some form of protest, then I am engaged in more practical acts of environmental protection. I pick up trash, volunteer for restoration projects, and spend quite a bit of time in the garden. Unfortunately, this year, I get to do none of that. Earth Day on a Tuesday, means we all spend the better part of daylight chained to wage jobs — most of which make the Earth a more miserable place to be, in addition to eating up all our time. So I am grumpy…

I hope you are free from all that, free to fight back against what harms us, free to live well as an Earthling.

In short, I hope you are having a much better Earth Day than I am!

canticle for earth day

gracious mother
glorious creator
generous progenitor
we remember this day
in gratitude
in humility
in wonderment
we give heartfelt thanks
for this being
for these bodies
for this magnanimous bounty
no promise broken
no necessity denied
no love withheld
even to these
your wayward children
is selfless solicitude bestowed
and though in bottomless want
we take more than our need
yet on this day once more
we come in supplication
we pray
that you open our eyes
that you soften our hearts
that you enlighten our minds
and knowing there are those
whose coldness is all consuming
we pray
that you protect our kin
that you tend this peculiar living flame
that you keep safe our peerless home
from us
holy earth
miraculous world
enveloping will
we sing this day
and we give thanks
for no gift is greater
than this life
may it always
be

©Elizabeth Anker 2025

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