Earth Day 2015: Temple Of Gratitude

My first real encounter with Earth Day celebrations was the year after our arrival in Canada.

Growing up as I did on the beautiful, luscious and green island of Jamaica, environmental protection was not an issue front and centre of my thoughts. It still is not. Not really.

Maybe that is not a "politically correct" thing for me to admit but I am nothing if not honest. My house has one waste disposal container and everything goes in it. Shame on me! Well, I do not drink pop, consume very little alcoholic beverages and as a rat packer, paper documents are hardly ever disposed. So in my mind, there is very little waste for a recycle container.

Edmonton is not one of the cities in Alberta where recycling is compulsory. Sherwood Park, Saint Albert and Leduc, neigbouring communities to Edmonton, have mandatory programmes and citizens are provided colour coded bins to separate waste. This was the case as well in Toronto and Vaughan in Ontario where I lived for almost two years. In these latter cities, my environmental protective self was turned up. I diligently separated my waste and disposed of them into the "garbage" and "compost" bins. The blue bags (recycle) did not have much of a place even then.

Source: pinterest.com

Compliance is certainly greater when the local authorities fine households for not correctly disposing their waste.  It might be the next move for Edmonton as the city seeks to increase its revenues.

Back in Jamaica, recycling is not the norm granted during my five month and then three week stay recently, I did notice my hostesses separating plastics from regular waste. As an avid gardener, one of my hostesses also separated food waste for use in the family's vegetable plots.

We took the health of our surroundings for granted in Jamaica. Little thought was given to the impact of our daily activities on the environment. This has changed over the years, slowly but changing. Recent news reports about the burning Riverton City dump highlighted how long overdue this change in attitude is and at the highest level of the country.

Change, however, starts internally and individually. My hand is the first to be raised in response to the question, "Who could be more aware and therefore more proactive regarding environmental health issues?"

Every year that we observe Earth Day, I commit myself to at least one further effort towards enhancing my awareness. Last year, my effort was to use only what I knew for sure I could completely consume. This resulted in my learning to cook for one thereby throwing out less food. I also bought only enough clothes that it was humanly possible to wear in each season. Added to that, some of these purchases were from consignment type stores.

Until Edmonton institutes a compulsory recycle programme, I will commit myself to  collecting my kitchen waste in compostable bags. As well, one of my spring/summer projects around my place this year is to "green" my surroundings. I have been doing a fair bit of research on plants that will not only beautify my home but de-pollute it. This article on such plants proved very helpful and only two days ago I potted my first spider plant.

Love really is my religion and it struck me this morning that Earth, as my current home, must be the temple of my gratitude. How we maintain and care for our place of living is testament to our measure of love and our "worship" of all that is divine.

No, environmentalist I may never be but lover I am.

How will you bring to the Temple to show your gratitude moving forward?