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Monday, April 22, 2024

It's bEARTHday

 

Please be aware I STILL cannot leave comments to anyone who uses embedded comments.  I get "failed to publish," and, even though I keep trying, I get the same message every time. This is very frustrating.  I appreciate your patience and understanding that it is not me because I do visit and leave a comment.

Today is Earth Day (although every day should be Earth Day).  It's also the day of my birth.  There are 193 countries participating in Earth Day today.  Yours is surely one of them.

For 2024, the theme is one that is near and dear to me: Planet vs. Plastic.  Long time readers and visitors to my blog know how I feel about plastic.  It is one of, and possibly the worst invention ever. 

However, let's go back to the first ever Earth Day.  If you've been around my blog for years, or you are aware of Earth Day, you know it was originally created by Senator Gaylord Nelson and intended to be a teach-in on various campuses across the nation.  Teach-ins are actually debates and who really would debate in favor of pollution, bad water, or dirtier oceans?  That was when the focus was changed and, instead of having an Earth Day celebration solely on college campuses, it was decided that the event should also be held in community centers and parks.

Although Gaylord Nelson gets all the credit for Earth Day, way back in the late 1950s, Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist, began looking into  pesticides first used by soldiers in WWII.  Before that, she was concerned about the synthetic pesticides created by the military after the war.  In 1957, the Dept. of Agriculture tried to eradicate fire ants using DDT and fuel oil to spray on private land.  One such place was Long Island, New York.  She learned that not only were the fire ants NOT eradicated, dogs, birds, and horses WERE (Lear, Linda,  Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature, pp. 117–124).  

Some of your parents or grandparents may remember that there were no cranberries for sale in 1957 through 1959.  A specific herbicide was over-sprayed and the cranberry crops had to be halted (Lear, p. 22).

It was then Carson decided to write a book documenting research of the chemical spraying programs funded by the Dept. of Agriculture and corporations that made the chemicals.  The book is called Silent Spring.  It was published in 1962 and was the forerunner that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

If you want to celebrate Earth Day, do something for the environment.  Pick up trash along a river, help clean up a park, plant a tree, or recycle old electronics.  

If you are unable to do any of those and plan to go grocery shopping today, please DO NOT buy anything in plastic.  Glass jars, tin or metal cans, and paper/cardboard are acceptable.  I love using 1/2 and1/2 in my coffee because it comes in a cardboard container.  If you go out to eat and decide to bring some food home, I hope it's not in Styrofoam, which is a form of plastic.  Let's give plastic the boot!

Let's see what the rest of the world is creating today using recycled products. 

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/jane-perkins-artactivist-recycled-materials-726x1024.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1  Jane Perkins: The Raj's Emerald, a portrait using found materials

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Barefooted-Welder-scrap-metal-art-sculpture-australia-tiger.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1  Barefooted Welder: Scrap metal sculptor from Australia who created Kali the cat

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Robert-Bradford-artactivist-sculpture-recycled-toys.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1Robert Bradford: Horse sculpture made out of recycled toys

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/steven-rodrig-PCB-sculpture-eletronic-waste-turtle.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1   Steven Rodrig: Sea turtle sculpture using discarded electronics

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Nick-Gentry-artactivist-collages-recycled-media-857x1024.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1   Nick Gentry: Portrait made of recycled media

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Derek-Gores-artactivist-collages-recycled-magazines-1024x1024.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1  Derek Gores: Collage made from recycled magazines

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Erika-Iris-Simmons-artactivist-cassette-tape-bob-marley.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1   Erika Iris Simmons: Bob Marley portrait made with old cassette tape

https://b2270777.smushcdn.com/2270777/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/TC-Trash-Art-1024x884-1.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1  TC Trash Art: Daily art made from beach clean-ups in Florida

I hope you have enjoyed this look at what others consider art made from trash, waste, or recycled materials.  Have a fabulous Earth Day and please do something good for the planet today (and every day).

And a bit of PLASTIC humor before I go:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKDpTRR91GVkIXarB0up5OPSutG2U-XSXjfQ-AA8eAw0KRo5Y86QDMgJnQ0Mm5q4LQ9cezW48BFgVO77L1wyfqTHQeCKkoUUOHe4f_9rfQ14asnt_cBDKFWKQqOijGdFQLnVqbW4sxDQuYvtZqKXZXR0i_XEzGoCs2-Ev47ZbkxlSnFbmuWcFtkAiNuw/s1102/400153aa79e8b01d24b03bdd2158e70f.jpg 

This is Day 22 of 22 and I shared how other artists respect the planet by using recycled, repurposed, and reused materials in their art.


22 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday and Earth Day. xx

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  2. Happy Bearthday Elizabeth, we all need to work together to resolve this plastic crisis before it's too late. Wishing you a Happy day how ever you choose to spend it. Hugs Tracey x

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  3. Happy bearthday Elizabeth!
    I’m trying to find out if anything is being done here in my area about earth day. Its not well known here and it’s not on people’s radar. All the info in spanish is American. I’m going to find something to post on WhatsApp groups or even Facebook to promote Earth Day.
    I love the recycled art. Especially the big cat.
    Happy Earth Day
    Lisca

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  4. Happy bEARTHDAY dear Elizabeth. I hope it is as wonderful as you are.
    Love the artwork you displayed and sadly agree with the last. Completely.

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  5. I enjoyed your post-Happy birthday and earth day
    hugs Kathy

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  6. Happy Birthday and Happy Earth Day. Please enjoy your day and I hope you have some cake or some other favorite item to celebrate! About the material you discussed: it’s very interesting to remember the history of Earth Day since the first one in 1970 (incidentally here in Ann Arbor!). I think your source about teach-ins was not quite right. The definition I think is better is “participatory discussions oriented toward action, typically including students and faculty in conversation.” The early ones, during the Vietnam War were efforts to educate and mobilize anti-war support, not debates with two sides.

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  7. Happy Bearthday! I can just hear Columbo, Just one more thing... Enjoy your special day. 💐🎂

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  8. ...the Columbo one is a classic and spot on.

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  9. these art pieces are amazing! and a very happy day to you Elizabeth,
    I hope your day’s awesome, bleu and squiggles behave ( ore knot ‼️😺 )
    and here’s to a great year ahead 💙💚🐟😺‼️

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  10. Happy Earth Day! I understand about the comments which have been working for me lately

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  11. Lovely post, Elizabeth. Wishing you a very happy birthday and earthday. Look after yourself, hugs, Valerie

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  12. We use cloth bags and do our best to recycle and keep the earth in mind.
    I do love some of the recycled/junk art and sculptures a lot!
    And the Columbo meme is great!
    Happy birthday! :)

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  13. First off: Happy happy, bEARTHday! To another great year in your life! To health, friends and yummy food and drink - and... to our Earth!
    I sadly still see students buying plastic bags, despite they are quite expensive by now. But the youth has so much money... 10-year-olds buy unhealthy snacks at the store obviously every morning for their school days!
    I made myself a slice of bread at home (but then I am old ;-)....)
    We recycle as much as we can and avoid plastic whenever we can. Shops take your electronic-"trash" and hopefully recycle them properly.
    Sadly only special shops allow you bring in your own containers - and worse, Ingo saw a docu: they cheat! Or many do. They buy what all groceries buy, throw away the plastic it´s delivered in and put it all on wooden shelves to sell you as "bio", as "green" and they take a lot more money - I don´t trust them.
    But you can - and I always did when eating out - bring my own container. You pay a wee bit less, but that´s not what motivates me ;-)
    Compost I bring out directly from the board I cut it.
    Great recycle-art!
    Have a wonderful Birthday, dear Elizabeth!

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  14. Happy birthday Elizabeth!!! I hope you are having a wonderful day. That is cool recycled art you shared today also. Enjoy. hugs-Erika

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  15. Swinging by to wish you a vey happy birthday and many happy returns! Hope you spoil me yourself with some cake!
    Meanwhile, fabulous post, wonderful art isnt it all, wow. Styrofoam....among so many others I know, but STILL so widely used. I just don't get it and it winds me up.

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  16. Happy BearthDay, and I totally adore Columbo. Hope tour day is as amazing 👏🏼 as you are. 🥳

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  17. Happy birthday, young lady!
    These are amazing images.
    We are doing pretty well with cloth bags!

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  18. Happy birthday Elizabeth. Hope you had a great day.
    All those recycled sculptures are amazing! Very talented artists.

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  19. Ooh, love that turtle. Is it just me or is powdered laundry soap that does not come in a plastic jug going away?
    Happy bEARTHDAY, dear friend.

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  20. Amazing recycling. And thankyou, yes I did get your comment.

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  21. Oh soooo true!! I love Columbo! Happy Bearthday! I'm late as usual...I hate my blog now it has lost its background colour...but I will keep trying! Love the pictures, sooo colourful! and that chocolate candle cake looks soooo yummmy!! Again, happy Bearthday! ((Lyn))

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  22. I'm late to the party but happy belated birthday, Elizabeth. I hope it was a happy one.

    I'm sorry about your commenting (I miss you!) Are you having trouble with mine? I have a pop-up (not embedded) comments and I'd be curious if mine is a problem too.

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