BlogHer - Dear Planet Earth, Are you sad? Or am I just anthropomorphizing again? - Comments

It's the thought that counts

Daisy — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:27:17 -0500

Thinking green is good: acting on those thoughts is even better. I like you philosophies embedded in the questions! The vision of Mother Earth rippling with laughter and causing earthquakes...great mental imagery!

Daisy

Compost Happens

When Beth Speaks, The Earth Listens...

Ecovillage Musings — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:55:30 -0500

I'm all for anthropormorphism - some of my best conversations are with my dog, or my plants (it's sad about Alline). Great post - love all the links (so much to learn!) and also enjoyed the Earth's answer. She's right about those dinosaurs...

re: love the post

greentalk — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:15:59 -0500

You always make me smile! I think humans have done a nice job of destroying each other and what they have. We are supposed to be the intelligent animal.

Anna www.green-talk.com

I love it

thesmartmama — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:35:26 -0500

Well said Beth. I love that you addressed so many different topics . . .

Planet Earth responded to my letter!

Beth Terry — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:34:19 -0500

Check it out. Planet Earth listened and responded!

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2009/04/dear-planet-earth-are-you-sad-or-am-i.html#c5833718569092939150

Beth Terry
www.fakeplasticfish.com
@fakeplasticfish
FaceBook

Well said

The Green Parent — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:05:39 -0500

I love this post Beth, especially how you were able to hit on so many topics. It's made me think about what I'd say in my own letter. Fodder for a future post...

Jenn

Find me at....www.thegreenparent.com

Nice

Amy Gates — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:14:47 -0500

I really liked this letter, Beth. And that's a good collaboration of links too. I think the Earth is going to be fine no matter what crap we throw at it. It's the humans that will go bye-bye.

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

Dear Planet Earth, Are you sad? Or am I just anthropomorphizing again?

Beth Terry — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:01:48 -0500

Dear Planet Earth,

How are you? I am fine. Well, not exactly fine. I stay up late at night blogging. About you. Sometimes with a glass of organic wine. I'm kind of obsessed, actually. Wondering if you're doing okay. If you're sad about how we drill into you to fill up our cars, cut down your trees to wipe our butts, remove your mountain tops to keep our lights burning, and pump noxious gases into your atmosphere. Does it piss you off that massive areas of your oceans are filled up with our bottle caps, cigarette lighters, and cheap plastic toys, that coral is dying and beaches are washing away?

A lot of people have ideas about how to save you: recycling batteries, turning the lights off for an hour, or not turning off the lights, watching a movie, carrying our own bags, etc. There are even iPhone Apps to Help Save the Planet. Do these things make you happy?

And will you still be our BFF? We're giving up buying new plastic and reducing what we send to the landfill each week. We ride our bikes to the store and buses and trains to work. You like that, right? We drink from the tap and eat from the local farmer's market. I know I don't spend enough time quality time with you, but that's because I'm busy running around picking up trash!

Planet Earth, can you hear me? Or am I just talking to myself? Because sometimes I wonder if you actually care about any of this at all. I mean, in the long run, you will still be around after all of us humans are gone. We can destroy whole ecosystems and ruin every last livable space, but your plates will continue their tectonics, mountains will shift, and tides ebb and flow as you travel your habitual orbit around the sun. Finally, the sun will die, taking you with it. But until then, will you miss us?

After all, we do some pretty amusing things. Like creating a white trash wedding out of plastic grocery bags, throwing a party to celebrate pee, playing Matzah Frisbee, or rowing across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to learn Zen acceptance. Often, we do these things with such fervent sincerity that you must ripple with laughter from time to time. Is that what earthquakes are? Like how I topple my kitties onto the bedroom floor when their cuteness is too intense for me to lie still?

Also, Planet Earth, besides being amusing, we humans really care. We care so much that learning about some of the destruction we've caused brings a few of us to our knees. We care that sea birds and turtles and fish die from eating plastic, mistaking it for food, and that our children are exposed to toxic chemicals in their tubs. We care about suffering happening on the planet right now and suffering yet to come. Because for us humans, caring is what we do.

Planet Earth, we are the caring part of you.

So am I actually writing this letter to myself? Probably. Once, I thought I heard you answer, but then I realized it was only the sound of my own breath.

Sincerely yours,

Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish

Beth Terry writes about finding creative ways to reduce her plastic consumption and plastic waste at Fake Plastic Fish and encourages others to join the fun. We only have one planet. Let's enjoy it instead of junking it up with plastic!