This year I have an Easter message. This year it’s not religious. Last year I talked about the Christian meaning of Easter. One blog reader thought it was a nice fantasy : ) Actually, I think it’s nice to see people sport morals without religion. Those people aren’t doing good to get a reward. They’re doing it because they believe it’s the right thing to do.
I saw the weather forecast for sun all weekend and knew I had to seize the day. You don’t have to be religious to get out there and worship the sun or the big blue marble we live on. I snowshoed up Hollyburn ridge before dawn and caught the sunrise over the mountains. Then I broke the kayak out at Third Beach and caught the sunset. A perfect day. That’s what I love about this time of year. You still have melting snow on the mountains you can enjoy and you can also go sailing or kayaking the same weekend or if you’re energetic, the same day.
I really enjoy hiking and snowshoeing in the mountains. That is my holy land. My Easter pilgrimage. There’s nothing better than getting the heart beating and breathing all that fresh air. Stopping to look at a big tree in admiration. Breathing in the fresh oxygen the tree produces and breathing out the carbon dioxide the tree uses. We are interdependent. That was a term Martin Luther King used in reference to social justice. Today I’m using the term to emphasize how connected we really are to the environment we live in.
We breath that air. Polluting that air is like shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s very short sighted. Just as clear cutting a forest is. Preston Manning told the media that taking care of the environment is being fiscally responsible. Indeed it is. He also said that’s a tough sell among Harper’s people. Indeed that is. They can’t grasp the concept at all.
Being fiscally responsible means you don’t leave your kids an over burdensome debt. Likewise it means not trashing the planet so they can enjoy it too with their kids. It’s time we start really embracing words like sustainability. We’ve got to overcome the selfish greed of short sighted self destruction.
With the rise of the Green Party it’s clear that you don’t have to be an eco terrorist to care about the planet. No one likes to see a beach or alpine trail covered with litter. Trashing the environment shows a lack of self respect. We need to think about the air we breath and the water we drink. We need to be better stewards of this marvelous ecosystem that we are very much a part of.
This was today's Easter Pilgrimage:
Metro Vancouver should end garbage incineration: study