Environmental Cleanup

Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

...garbage has to be the poem of our time because
garbage is spiritual, believable enough

to get our attention, getting in the way, piling
up, stinking, turning brooks brownish and

creamy white: what else deflects us from the
errors of our illusionary ways, not a temptation

to trashlessness, that is not too far off, and,
anyway, unimaginable, unrealistic: . . .

~ A. R. Ammons, excerpt

PRACTICE

PART ONE

• Formally (e.g., through an “adopt a street or beach or park etc.” program) or informally choose a natural location near your home where you can practice land stewardship.
• Visit this location routinely (at least once a month, perhaps on the full moon) and remove any waste that has been dumped there.
• Note any violations (e.g., dumping, vandalism, poaching) and report them to the appropriate authorities.
• If you own the land or have permission from the landowners, enhance the property for wildlife by adding native plants and boxes for native wildlife, such birds, bats, and bees.

PART TWO

• Familiarize yourself with the “Nature as Mirror” practice (posted January 9, 2013) and apply it when you visit your environmental stewardship location by focusing on the human-alterations and impacts to the site.  Note: Bring a pen and journal.
• What emotions arise?  What memories?  What beliefs about yourself, other people, and the land?
• What “garbage” do you need to clean up in your own life?  What violations to your inner landscape need to be reported?
• Journal your observations.
• In what ways can you enhance the beauty and abundance of the landscape-of-you?
• Do so, and enjoy the results.

Suggested reading: Garbage: A Poem by A. R. Ammons (1993; Norton)

This practice was first published in "Courting the Wild: Love Affairs with the Land," edited by Jamie K. Reaser and Susan Chernak McElroy and published by Hiraeth Press (2008; www.hiraethpress.com). (c) Jamie K. Reaser. All rights reserved.