CHARRED OAKS INN SHARES EARTH DAY THOUGHTS ...

Today is Earth Day. I remember the excitement surrounding the first one back in 1970 when many nations got together on the same day to commit to making sure there was a future for the generations to come and keeping the environment we all share on this earth healthy and sustainable. As a result of witnessing that occasion, I began following the writings of Wendell E. Berry.

Wikipedia describes Mr. Berry "as an American novelist, poet, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer." He is all that, but I just love his writings. He claims to have been influenced by Shakespeare, Henry David Thoreau, Robert Frost, W.B. Yeats, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson, etc. All writers, philosophers and teachers in their own right. I mean, as I typed the list I thought "Much Ado About Nothing", Walden Pond, Huckleberry Finn ...

Earth Day is the yearly reminder to walk more lightly on our home - the earth. Wendell Berry says " the atmosphere, the earth, the water and the water cycle those are good gifts. The ecosystems, the ecosphere, those are good gifts. We have to regard them as gifts because we couldn't make them. We have to regard them as good gifts because we couldn't live without them". We have a lot of work to do to repair the damage done to our ecosystem, but he also says there is always hope.

In 2013, Wendell Berry was interviewed by Bill Moyers. This link https://www.fetzer.org/blog/observing-earth-day-wendell-berry-hope

is Mr. Berry speaking to us in his own words.