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The Medicine Wheel
Written by George Adams   
Monday, 28 March 2011 21:42

Particpating in the Earth Day Parade

The elements associated with the Medicine Wheel can be seen as a kind of treasure map taking us to all vital resources that mother earth has freely given us. If you would like to participate in our parade, we invite you to chose among the four elements so we can call attention to and show appreciation for all the forms of the earth's generosity. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , the webmaster, if you wish to sign up to carry one of the banners or wear one of the masks that CES is supplying. SEE BELOW for descriptions of what is available, first come, first served. We are hoping the parade will form up with the representatives of each element in groups.


The West
  • Element: Water, the rain, streams, oceans
  • Animal:Fishes and Whales
  • Season:Autumn, ingathering and harvest
  • Time of Day: Evening, coming home
  • Energy: hydroelectric
The North
  • Element: Earth
  • Animal:creatures of the land, deer, mice, elephants.
  • Plants:GMO or not, they feed all life.
  • Season: Winter, hibernation, dormancy
  • Time of Day: Night and rest
  • Energy: Geothermal
The South
  • Element: Fire
  • Animal:Dragon.
  • Season: Summer
  • Time of Day: Noon
  • Energy: Solar and biomass
The East
  • Element: Air, the winds
  • Animal:Birds
  • Season: Spring, beginings, planting
  • Time of day: morning, arising
  • Energy: Wind power

Parade Paraphenalia We Can Loan:

    1. --- WEST ---
    2. Banner: standards bearer should be adult or teen, its heavy
    3. one fish windsock
    4. sea shells
    5. 3 umbrellas
    6. mermaid costume
    1. --- NORTH ---
    2. Banner, needs standards bearer
    3. 2 bear masks
    4. horns and antlers of animals
    5. some other animals masks/costumes
    1. --- EAST ---
    2. Banner, needs standards bearer
    3. fairy wings costume
    4. Bird masks/costumes
    1. --- SOUTH ---
    2. Banner, needs standards bearer
    3. Dragon: a group costume a'la Chinese New Years
    4. 4 torches to be carried...CAREFULLY

Parade Paraphenalia We Would Love to have Show Up:

    1. --- WEST ---
    2. fish costumes
    3. anything about whales and dolphins
    4. anybody got a tidal power poster?
    1. --- NORTH ---
    2. any plant or plant-like cosumes
    3. endangered animals costumes
    4. Hey, its YOUR parade too!
    1. --- EAST ---
    2. Wind power signs, costumes, what have you.
    1. --- SOUTH ---
    2. Solar powered anything...as long as you can move it.
    3. you say you have a wood stove on wheels? come along!
    4. Signs, models, costumes related to biomass or Photo Voltaic
Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 March 2011 13:14
 
Earth Day 2012
Written by George Adams   
Tuesday, 10 April 2012 08:48

In the 14 [fourteen!] years since CES set out to get more people thinking about how their lives and the groups and enterprises to which they belonged were affecting our planet, many organizations have sprung up with similar or at least related missions.  We think of this as a kind of success but hardly more than a battle won in a long war to stabilize climate and bring human occupations and preoccupations into harmony with the earth. 

Starting around Earth Day, the flurry of activities planned by those organizations presents the public with an ever larger list of options to make Earth Day meaningful. 

Noting that celebration of the earth need not entail a trade fair for vendors of "green" goods and services, CES is organizing a "Poems of the Earth" poetry reading, at Buffalo Street Books on Tuesday, April 17th from 6 to 8 PM.  Bring the poems that bring your heart back to a full sense of awe or gratitude for the gift of a nurturing planet.  

The sobering charts and numbers compiled by Bill McKibben or James Hansen stun and sadden some of us but are ignored or mean little to many.  Nothing less than poetry can really speak of the spiritual trip that is our life on earth.  Many writers use their poetic voices to express the feelings they have about our home planet and what we may be doing to it.  Here are a few favorites.

Last Updated on Sunday, 15 April 2012 22:35
 
Earth Day event Calendar 2012
Written by George Adams   
Tuesday, 10 April 2012 11:57

CES will be offering just one of many events to mark Earth Day 2012.  At this link, see the many activities Ithaca College has, spanning a full week.

Others you may be interested in:

  • Tuesday, April 17: CES POETRY FOR THE EARTH, 6-8 pm, Buffalo Street Books - open mic poetry, your own or by others
  • April 11-22: TWELVE DAYS OF EARTH DAY Greenstar Cooperative Market West End Store - Veterans Sanctuary, RIBS, recycle your T-shirts, Green Guerillas, Get Your Green Back & MORE [details <greenstar.coop/newsletter>]
  • Thursday, April 19:  WISDOM OF THE WOOD Opening Reception, 5-7 pm, Found Gallery, 227 Cherry Street - Earth-materials sculpture by Donna Faivre-Roberts (Open April 18-May 13)
  • Friday, April 20: WHALES' RIGHTS Earth Day Lecture, Museum of the Earth 5:30 reception, 6-8 lecture by Christopher Clark, Cornell Bioacoustics Research Program: the impact of chronic man-made noise on whales
  • Friday, April 20:  GREENSTAR EARTH DAY MEMBERSHIP MEETING 5:30 700 W.Buffalo St - annual report, dinner, dancing with Djug Django
  • Friday, April 20:  EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY 5-8 pm Urban Art Exhibit by GIAC youth, Greenstar West End Store.
  • Saturday, April 21: GREAT EARTH DAY CLOTH DIAPER EXCHANGE 12 noon Jillian's Drawers on the Commons - 300 worldwide locations, all at the same time, aiming for a Guinness World Record!
  • Danby Green Homes Tour
    Saturday April 21, 10:00am-4:00pm
    Various locations in and around Danby

    Danby's [Renewable] Energy Group has put together a "Tour" of Danby homes, modelled on the annual Green Building Open House hosted each fall by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County and the Ithaca Green Building Alliance.  There will be 15 sites on the tour, all in Danby, and homeowners will be available to answer your questions about their home's "green" features.  Read more about the tour in this month's Danby Area News at http://town.danby.ny.us/DanbyNews/DAN_201204.pdf and download a brochure with a map and photos of the sites, here: http://tedcrane.com/GreenHomeTour_FlyerWeb.pdf .
  • Sunday, April 22:  CATCH THE BREEZE 1 pm thaca Children's Garden - display and judging for children/adult wind turbine competition [questions: Lora Hines < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >]
  • Sunday, April 22:  EARTH DAY CELEBRATION noon-5 pm Farmers Market (Steamboat Landing) - displays and conversations with leading Green businesses, organizations and initiatives
  • Sunday, April 22:  BUTTERFLY GARDENS Cayuga Nature Center
  • Saturday, April 28:  SNRC Earth Day Benefit 5K Race 10 am Cornell Plantations Arboretum ($12 registration - rain or shine)

 

Last Updated on Monday, 16 April 2012 21:05