We’re all in this together!

Hi I am Milou,
I am a 13 year old student now living in Moscow. I want to share this blog with students, kids and poets, writers and artists from all over the world to post a contribution for Earth Day. It would be great if you could join me and post here a link that connects to a relevant poem, text/article, picture/art with environmental content on your web site for Earth Day. Please put a back link on your site to World Poetry Day to get it rolling. If you don't have a web site you can post your contribution here.
Thanks, Milou

About Earth Day Network

Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect, interact, and have an impact on their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies. EDN's international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in our campaigns every year.

We’re all in this together! by Milou

No matter who and where you are
You can always follow your dreaming star
And don’t listen to others thoughts ‘n’ founds
What you think is the thing that counts

If you feel like being a hip hop singer
Even though you’re basketball flinger
Have fun while you play
And sing still today
Do it with fun and don’t linger

**You Can Make a Change Milou:-) Poetry4kids**

I like these earth day books for kids

I Am Of The Earth by Anna Lee Walters

I am of the earth
She is my mother
She bore me with pride
She reared me with love
She cradled me each evening
She pushed the wind to make it sing
She built me a house of harmonious colors
She fed me the fruits of her fields
She rewarded me with memories of her smiles
She punished me with the passing of time
And at last when I long to leave
She will embrace me for eternity
by Anna Lee Walters

Earth Song Michael Jackson


The Spirit of Native America: Beauty and Mysticism in American Indian Art [Paperback]
I remember asking (in my head) what was life for, why did anyone (or anything) live, and why did I live. At that point death to me was a word that represented very little fear. I had seen things die, animals and such, and I heard of people dying and saw evidence of it. I remember thinking that from what I could tell or see, there were only two things that were "real", and the wonder of both: life and death.

--Talking Indian: Reflections on Survival and Writing
Biography / Criticism
 More about Anna Lee Walters on Wikipedia


I hope you like it too, Milou:-)

What earthday means to me... - Haiku by Milou

More about David Attenborough

Haiku Earth Poem by Milou

It makes me ashamed
'Cause of crime and destruction
Mother Earth suffers

But one day a year
We help animals and care
Since nature is rare

If we care for earth
We'll have a healthy nature
Like on nature's birth

I wish that our world
Our life, our space, our nature
Were one unity

Spare some time to watch this video about our beautiful earth
Happy Earthday, Milou

Send a Earth Day paper card

Make your loved ones feel special with a custom paper card. Send a paper Earth Day card this year. These Earth Day cards are designed by Kathleen Holley.

The Colors of the World by Ria Coleto-Cervantes

I see the sky
And it's all blue,
Like the ocean with its azure hue.

I see the trees
And it's all green
With the verdant leaves on the brim.

I see the sun
And how it glowed!
Like a golden ring on a distant slope.

I see a land
With the warm shades of brown,
Which echoes warmth all around.

And I see folks like you and me.
We are part of this mystery.
The colors are rich with variety
Of people, plants, animals and nature's elements in a mould.
For these are the colors of the world.


~oOo~

I have written this poem as tribute to our Mother Earth. Let's support all organizations and causes fighting for the protection of the world we live in.

Thanks.

MOTHER EARTH by Ponder Awhile

Mother Earth actually looks after me,
She neither expects nor charges a fee.

Every year fresh fruits she provides to eat,
For those fruits, one another man will beat.

So much water is there for us all,
For water it often becomes an ugly brawl.

A tiny insect on her I am,
Feeding me with her assorted jam.

Man keeps beating her with his big bombs,
When will he realize that she is alive
and that it is wrong?

Her we must begin to appreciate,
Immediately before it gets too late.

From our puny race she will defend herself,
You are just begging her to annihilate yourself.

Happy Earthday by BONNIE L. PELTON

Earth Day tree planting - real life activity for kids

Plant a tree
Watch a bee
Go clean up the
Sea!!
Let's leave our planet
to be,
What it intends to be
So we, and all life
Can Be ........

EARTHDAY 2008 by BONNIE PELTON

"The Earth Day Poem" by Emeline

Power to the Earth Day Kids

Our forests are dying,
Our lakes are drying,
Mother Earth is crying,
and we must start trying!

Trying to save our Earth
giving back what it''s worth,
toward a new day of
REBIRTH!!!

Join the millions of people world wide,
to begin to live with pride,
while waste begins to subside,
and conservation is taken in stride.

Use paper, not plastic bags,
Recycle clothing to use as rags,
Re-do, repair, re-dream,
Don''t buy new, buy green!

Walk or share a ride,
Conserve water town wide,
read a book, or play a game,
Live in peace without shame.

We must begin today,
there is no time to delay,
Mother Earth is needing you to pray,

On This 2008, Earth Day!
by Emeline

Artists, writers and poets contributions for Earthday! - Tell the World

Artists, writers and poets contributions for Earthday! - Tell the World

Tell the world what you're doing for Earth Day (and beyond) by uploading a message to our Earth Day '08 site. Get together with friends, family or coworkers, grab a camera, and take five minutes to put yourselves on the map. From the everyday to the extraordinary, we want to hear about your plans to take on climate change and make our planet a greener place.
Tell the world, Milou

Letter From Mother Earth by Leah PettePiece

Desperately seeking anyone willing to listen. This is mother earth calling humanity…is there anyone out there? Repeat…is anyone there? You have sacked my treasures, burned my kingdoms, soured my waters, maimed, injured and utterly laid waste my vast resources… Is anyone there…
You have wreaked havoc on my sacred forests and set traps and snares to catch my prized animals. You have shot pure acid into my atmosphere and generated tons of toxic wastes that will not be diluted even a million years from now…my veins, the rivers of this planet are tainted with every poisonous thing known to man. Are you hearing me?

You have put wealth and fast moving machines ahead of the sacredness of life and family, neglect, poverty and illness run unchecked through my humankind. You have justified wars without cause, and hatred without basis, you have turned a blind eye to the starving, the destitute, the old and the infirm. You have raise up generations that have no value for life, who see no sacredness even in the breath of their own parents or children, you have allowed the massacre of millions simply because they live in places you never heard of and have no interest in. Are you there? You can't hide you know I hear your ever breathe! You can't run away, you can't escape the TRUTH of what you have done. I gave you speech in the hopes that you would become the keepers of my kingdoms and that you show respect to she who bore you, but no…now you have no use for me, you would rather play with your fancy machines, drive over my face in you pollution vehicles, watch endless hours of meaningless tripe on the Television, turn up the volume, turn out the fact, turn a blind eye…well, guess what you have put yourselves in danger!

Ah, now I see you are listening…you didn't like that did you? TRUTH hurts! Especially when you know that you should be doing something about it…some of the children are starting to awaken, they see clearly what is coming, This nice mother you have, this 'little blue planet' as you so fondly call me is very ill, any day now it will become apparent that either you all must begin to work to get me healthy or someone better find another place to live! There is no more time left to work on solutions, all of you should know what needs to happen, that is if you would take a good look around you,,, when was the last time you actually took a walk with nature? No I am not suggesting that you run out to one of those Natural Food places and start buying supplies, I am suggesting that you should go touch the face of this dear old mother of yours, feel the earth, look at your sky, see what you have done!

Ah, are you uncomfortable? Too bad, so am I! My forest have been ruined and I need some fresh air, my rivers, lakes, oceans and streams are polluted and I desperately need fresh water. There are land fills bulging with your endless disposable this and that’s and quite honestly it makes it difficult for me to redistribute soil where it is so desperately needed. In once lovely Africa there is no safe place for many of my creatures, and in some places there not even the humans are behaving as if they had a brain.
What is it going to take for all of you to take a day to just be with me, look at me, speak with me, and begin to dialogue with me in meaningful ways? Would the world as you know it come to an end if everyone just took a full 24 hours and tried to learn about all the things you could be doing individually to help me? Sorry lot of offspring you all are can't even help out your old mom when she needs tending to!

How much longer are you going to continue to let the haters of this world keep on making hate, how much longer are you going to pretend that everything is alright? •

This is the letter of a desperate and albeit old woman, and I demand to know what you intend to do! Enough with meetings and reports, enough with organization and affiliations, enough with all of things that you think will work! How about this for an idea, everyone just sit down for one day and discuss what must be done to save me, before it is too late!

"Bridging The Gap" by Brad Rogers -FLitCH

Hello Everyone,
I'm donating one of my songs to everyone for Earth Day. The song is appropriately called "Bridging The Gap". There is an underlying theme all the way through that our world needs some healing and some patching up pretty badly, and it touches base on the fact that our govt. needs serious reform, and that is obviously all connected to the damaged state of the Earth. I try and tell stories through the music itself without words, however for this one there are some samples I threw in (legally), to help emphasize the message. One sample at the end is of Mr. Ted Glick speaking the truth at a C.C.C. conference about the atrocious behavior and suppression of scientific evidence.

Thanks Brad for your support!
You will find Brads's music "Bridging The Gap" on the right, just click the Earthday player and enjoy.

Ted Glick: Man in Action

Come Back to Earth by Dee

I am a lover of many many fruits
Vegetables, grains even roots
From carrots to grapes
Bananas and dates
And organic botanic fig shoots

Earth Day comes but one time a year
But our carbon footprints don't disappear
Let's take back the earth
Call it a rebirth
We're standing boldly on the edge of the frontier

Take the opportunity today to check out Go Organic and discover how organic farming can help the planet and you. Also insert your zip code to locate a Go Organic for Earth day grocery store near you. Enter their Bed and Breakfast Giveaway or Grocery Makeover contest while you are at it. Oh and Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day Poetry, Poems, and Haiku - contribution by Kid Reviewer

Celebrate Earth Day.
Plant a birch or maple tree
Shade for tomorrow.

The rain forests wane,
birds disperse into thin air,
flee colorful ghosts.

Halt global warming!
There's nothing more important,
'cept global cooling.

I though these were pretty cool nature poems by Li Po:

Talk in the Mountains

You ask me, `Why dwell among green mountains?'
I laugh in silence; my soul is quiet.
Peach blossom follows the moving water;
Here is a heaven and earth, beyond the world of men.

Silent Night

Moonlight floods the end of my bed.
I wonder, has frost fallen?
Sitting up, I look at the moon.
Lying back, I think of home.

Summer in the mountains

Too lazy to shift my white feather fan
I lie naked in the green woods.
Hanging my hat on a rock,
I bare my head to the breeze in the pines.

(Li Po, Chinese, 701-762, versions I.M.)

Earth Day Domino Tag

This is the Earth Day Domino Tag.
Please support Earth Day!
Rule: Copy the entire list and add your name at the bottom and tag at least 5 friends. (But you can tag as many as you like). Now, I am sharing the Domino Tag with all Earth Day supporters: Earth Day-World Poetry Day Milou AainaA-Ridtz Ali Riza Saral Crafty Green Poet Eco-friendly life Firmlyrooted Gautami Tripathy Jeques Knocking From Inside Poetic Leanings POETS WHO BLOG The Phantom UL Typingaway

Killer Flea - Earth Day Poem by Milou

Watch the Pink Flea (have fun)

 
Flea Poem by Milou©

In the little town of Marden
There was a neat and tiny garden
In the garden was a tree
That was happy, kind, and free

In the tree there was a bird
Whose call was very often heard
On the bird there was a flea
That lived so very happily

But don’t let this be a trick
For the flea was very sick

It killed the bird
It killed the tree
It killed the garden
And then the flea
Killed the rest of the our world
By jumping on a different bird

So ALARM! WATCH OUT! BEWARE!
And take very special care
Because this tiny little flea
Can end up being YOUR destiny

A funny Earth Day book I like, Milou:-)

Gaia by UL Typingaway

Gaia

waking up i take your dust
and smear on my forehead
a sign of soulful respect
or so i would like to think-
not enough, yes I know:
never enough for all that you
endure and sustain through time,
the burden you carry so willingly
without complain, with relish
deserves far more than mere
acknowledgement every morn -
yet remembrance and respect
even for a moment, is the least
i can do for you Mother, who
give, give and only give
expecting no return.

*****

There's a two line prayer in sanskrit that Hindus chant every morn as soon as one wakes up.

It is a sign of acknowledgement to Mother Earth who carries us in her arms without

question or complain, assuming our burdens as her own. It is a request for her forgiveness, if we unknowingly cause her harm and a daily renewal of promise to treat her with respect as long as we live.

*****

In response to the prompt from Read Write Poem. I would also like to submit this to Milou at her blog on World Poetry Day and Earth.

Dancing comes full circle by Gautami Tripathy

dancing comes full circle

this world has been there
from a long long time
reptiles inhabited it,
we came along much much later.
seasons come and go,
air swirl about, dancing-
thunders bring about rains,
which disappear into
womb of the earth.
dried seeds travel far and wide
uniting the world in a way
incomprehensible to humanity.
mountains stand tall
with a disdained look.
the sea centres in the midst,
hiding unfathomable secrets-
sometimes throwing those at our faces
with shimmering rage.
the world would still exist
(even when we all disintegrate into nothing)
with new life forms,
newer dimensions.

"are we having a sense of Déjà vu?”

Be The Best That You Could Be by Jeques

Be The Best That You Could Be

If you are a tree, be the best tree that you could be.

Let the hands of time mold your body

Endure the seasons ~ be sturdy.

If you’re not a tree

But a shrub only,

Be the best shrub that flourish

Your sight people will cherish.

If you’re not a shrub

But a herb only,

Be the best herb that heals

So people may live.

If you’re not a herb

But a weed only,

Be the best grass that’s green.

To console the people in pain.

~

And If fate will not make you any,

Then be just the soil maybe.

A fertile soil where seeds

Of herbs and weeds

And shrubs and trees grow.

Somehow, in them you may live;

You will bring them life ~

Becoming the best that you could be.

~

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michaelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here live a great street sweeper who did his job so well. ~Martin Luther King

And when I die strew my dust-remains in the earth so trees may grow.

Burning Ice by Tiel Aisha Ansari

Burning Ice

The mountains here reach higher than air
like bony fingers groping into the sky
and fleshed with glaciers. Fire is winning.
The peaks bleed melting ice, drained
by dragon rivers lined with hungry mouths
to the south and east. There is never enough.



The jealous ghosts of the Takla Makan
howl on the wings of perpetual sandstorms
smothering oases, filling in wells
erasing the faint traces of desert roads
burying houses, forcing whole towns to move
or die of thirst. There is never enough.



Brahmaputra. Ganges. Huang He. Indus.
Irrawaddy. Mekong. Salween. Yangtze.



Peace? Not while the boundary line snakes
among the peaks, ignoring the flow-lines.
Like linked fingers on opposing hands
need stretches across the border.
On both sides, there is never enough.

Sources:
Global Warming and Climate Change
Central Ganga Authority
Environment News Services

Nature by Kim Eco-Friendly Life

Nature

Now is the time that Nature is

Asking us

To care for her and all
sentient beings in the

Universe.

Remembering who we really
are
and where we live,

Every single moment!

World Stripped Away by Poetic Leanings

World Stripped Away

Strip mall upon strip mall;
At landscapes they eat.
Strip mine affected
With ruinous feat.

Clearing a pathway;
Once was beauteous living.
Now all’s gone for sale,
Passed to builders we’re giving.

No room left for moving.
Traffic a curse.
Each new built construction;
Our world’s all the worse.

Short term the thinking,
Short-sighted gains;
Space since restricted
As clean living wanes.

Politicians so foolish
In the ratables chased.
Redundant; unneeded;
Our planet’s defaced.

More land since been spoiled
With each plow into dirt.
Every tree lost to clearing
Is our future we hurt.

Polluting the rivers
Equals life to extinction.
Smog fills the heavens.
Is this man’s lone distinction?

The world’s all connected;
As this sphere sees reduction;
Exploiting life’s circle
Is a slow self-destruction.

Copyright SGW 2004

Ageing alone

The last of his kind -
so long alone, another
thirty years to go.

Lonesome George is the last known individual of the Pinta Island Tortoise, one of 13 subspecies of Galápagos tortoise native to the Galápagos Islands. George is around 70 years old and can be expected to live another 30 to 70 years, probably all alone, though there are indications that there may still be another tortoise of the same subspecies or closely enough related, somewhere in the island chain. Galapagos tortoises were hunted by whalers and pirates during the 18th and 19th centuries. Non-native species such as goats introduced on some of the islands destroyed the vegetation that the tortoises eat. These factors have contributed to the reduction in numbers.

Crafted by Crafty Green Poet

Standing In A Field by the phantom

Standing In A Field

---

Mm.
The air smells good.
The sun is bright;
The grass is soft.
I'm standing in a big field looking over the horizon.
I see clouds in the distance.
A storm is brewing.
Maybe it will pass to the South.

The land is good.
The flowers are colorful;
The breeze is cool.
How long will I be allowed to stand here?
I see buildings in the distance.
Man is coming.
Why can't this, too, pass to the South.

But it will not.
The air will smell dirty.
The sun will turn dark;
The grass will turn hard.
The flowers will turn brown,
The breeze will turn cold.
I will soak this up for now, here in this field.
I see hills in the distance.
There is grass there.
Maybe I will pass to the South.

Les Paroles de Silence by AainaA-Ridtz A.R

Work the earth and plough the sweetness

Thy innocent hands not wrought in pain

I long to dive and become an Island
Tendering arms of grapes, and dates
In silence, still waters hum a prayer of
Comfort joys and rests asunder beneath
Reflective eyes of the heavens yonder

Work the earth and plough the sweetness
Thy innocent hands not wrought in pain
Yet thou embrace my bosoms and bury
Thy youthful fathers faces stabbed and wounded
With tools thou wrought from veils of my belly

My heart tears a cry often pearls it become
Yet men of wealth discern not the lustre giving
Tokens as loose change to vagrants yearning
Bitter sweetness of wine revenged hearts
Forsaken amidst their lovers' kisses

On the value of life

Life is precious in its own right regardless of identity

Thanks to Ali Riza SARAL for his contribution!

Milou