Honor the Earth event, September 24 2011

By Lynne Nittler: When 350.org announced the date of September 24 for their annual global event, I knew immediately how to put together a beautiful gathering. Our Evening in Honor of Planet Earth was created from the talent that lay all around us in this sustainable community of village Homes.

The event was everything I hoped for: delicious desserts to share, music by our own impressive musicians, lively and personal readings by Kim Stanley Robinson, inspirational words from our two supervisors Don Saylor and Jim Provenza, and a space odyssey video of Andrew Corbett’s Bright Blue Ball (see it on Youtube) to end it all with a flourish!

In all, 104 folks joined us for the evening, and forty one of them were from Village Homes. The song titles tell the story.

  • James Williams – “What a wonderful World”
  • Scarlet Huber with Ricardo Heres – Portuguese lament about cutting trees
  • George Haver – “How Big is our Print?”
  • Kathy Robinson & other Threshold Choir members – “Pachamama”
  • Andrew Corbett – “Bright, Blue Ball”
  • Eve Bessier – “Small Blue Planet” with slide show

We have only this one precious Earth. Saturday evening was about nurturing a reverence for the earth and about bringing our community together to find a more earth-friendly way to live.

If we approach the climate crisis grounded in our gratitude for the wondrous diversity of life that exists on this earth, then it becomes essential to live sustainably and work with diligence and hope to secure clean air, clean water, protected habitat, and safe levels of greenhouse gas emissions so that all living beings may thrive.