{"id":11069,"date":"2026-04-23T01:46:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/?p=11069"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:55:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:55:31","slug":"earth-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/","title":{"rendered":"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet. It reflects on the fundamental truth that environmental progress doesn\u2019t depend on any single administration or election. This is according to the website <\/span>earthday.org\/earth-day-2026<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d ask what you\u2019re doing for Mother Earth today but if you\u2019re Pagan then you believe as I do. Earth Day isn\u2019t just one day. So as I continue to always say, Earth Day is every day, however, we only celebrate it today. So I suggest instead of just cleaning Her up, let\u2019s teach the naysayers just how it is done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of cleaning up like we should already be doing, maybe you could call your elected officials. Tell them about the importance of taking care of Mother Earth. After all, we know how real climate change is. We also know what little things we do can make a big difference. They add up in the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019d rather not call, then go to a public meeting and speak up. You could write a letter to them or better yet write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Especially now that everything is digital, more people will see it which means you\u2019ll strike a cord with more folks. And hopefully start something bigger. You can organize a rally or demonstration in your town, or participate in one someone else has started. It takes only one small splash to create a ripple effect. Don\u2019t forget that, please.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Earth\"
Earth PHOTO BY KEVIN M. GILL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are many different things that we can do to make a difference. It may not happen overnight but just look at what we already accomplished. For starters in New Jersey and New York, we have to use reusable bags when we go grocery shopping. Many restaurants won\u2019t carry plastic straws and instead give out paper straws. Other restaurants which still use plastic straws only give them out by request.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy for us to make these subtle changes, but can we all do it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even our fashion choices affect her. You would be surprised to find out that the process of making clothing creates four percent of the greenhouse emissions. You might find yourself chuckling about needing a haircut. Hair is compostable, so anytime you have any fallen hair, put it in the garden soil. It also serves a dual purpose as it keeps certain critters away. Ground hogs for example can\u2019t stand human hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of gardens, you can plant a pollinator garden. They are relatively easy to maintain. Pollinator gardens, especially floral ones with native plants, attract bees and butterflies.<\/span><\/p>\n

The website\u2019s weblink above, has a chart of 50 ways to participate in Earth Day events. A lot of or almost all of these things can be done on any day. In fact, I encourage us to carry them out\u00a0 on other days of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the slogan on their website says, \u201cProgress does not happen in silence. It happens when people show up.\u201d This is so true. If we don\u2019t show up and do, nothing happens. We create change and we can make it a positive one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Earth
SeaChange exhibit PHOTO COURTESY OF JERRY FRIED<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently, artist Debrah Pearson Feinn, and member of the <\/span>Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair<\/span><\/a>, Jerry Fried created \u201cSeaChange.\u201d\u00a0 Additionally, Fried\u00a0 is a Montclair filmmaker and former mayor. The 360\u00b0 immersive art exhibit with surfboards attached all around the outside of it, was set in UU\u2019s Fletcher Hall. It depicted how the sea changed and that we need to protect the environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, the Climate Justice Group held two screenings of a movie related to taking care of the planet. I\u2019m really grateful to be part of this group that is actually doing something about Mother Earth at my congregation. We are starting to compost at the congregation as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, yes go plant a garden or two, reuse items instead of tossing out, reduce garbage and recycling. Get out there and demonstrate. Contact local representatives, but please do something. One day I\u2019d like to be writing about what we did that made us not worry about Mother Earth. And hopefully I could be preaching to the choir and that choir would be everyone. So, until then Happy Earth Month!<\/span><\/p>\n

See related story: <\/span>Earth Day can be any day; should be every day<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet. It reflects on the fundamental truth that environmental progress doesn\u2019t depend on any single administration or election. This is according to the website earthday.org\/earth-day-2026. I\u2019d ask what you\u2019re doing for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4409,"featured_media":11072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1141,230,1319],"tags":[1775,1781,1772,1778,1490],"class_list":["post-11069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-events","category-seasonal-reflection","category-spiritual-practice","tag-debrah-pearson-feinn","tag-garden","tag-jerry-fried","tag-polllinator","tag-unitarian-universalist-congregation-at-montclair"],"yoast_head":"\nApril 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nature's Sacred Journey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T01:46:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T01:55:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/857\/2026\/04\/3437790239_7e9bff541e_w.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"267\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ann Trip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ann Trip\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/\",\"name\":\"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T01:46:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T01:55:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#\/schema\/person\/8c00bee912de6f907b9eeaaff8f8ba18\"},\"description\":\"We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/\",\"name\":\"Nature's Sacred Journey\",\"description\":\"Celebrating UU-Paganism and Earth-Centered Experience\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#\/schema\/person\/8c00bee912de6f907b9eeaaff8f8ba18\",\"name\":\"Ann Trip\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60c930fc513ad9502e96d0aeaa3f24d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60c930fc513ad9502e96d0aeaa3f24d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ann Trip\"},\"description\":\"Ann Trip is a UU Pagan and leader of the UUCM Sacred Wheel CUUPS chapter at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair in New Jersey. She has been following the Pagan path for almost 20 years and has been a Druid for the last 10. She is also a journalist and a photographer covering local town news.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/author\/atrip\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet","description":"We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet","og_description":"We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/","og_site_name":"Nature's Sacred Journey","article_published_time":"2026-04-23T01:46:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-23T01:55:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":267,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/857\/2026\/04\/3437790239_7e9bff541e_w.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ann Trip","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ann Trip","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/","name":"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-04-23T01:46:05+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-23T01:55:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#\/schema\/person\/8c00bee912de6f907b9eeaaff8f8ba18"},"description":"We have the power to protect our planet. Earth Day is today, Wednesday, April 22. This year Earth Day\u2019s theme is Our Power, Our Planet.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/2026\/04\/earth-day\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"April 22 Earth Day, its Our Power and Our Planet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/","name":"Nature's Sacred Journey","description":"Celebrating UU-Paganism and Earth-Centered Experience","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#\/schema\/person\/8c00bee912de6f907b9eeaaff8f8ba18","name":"Ann Trip","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60c930fc513ad9502e96d0aeaa3f24d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a60c930fc513ad9502e96d0aeaa3f24d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Ann Trip"},"description":"Ann Trip is a UU Pagan and leader of the UUCM Sacred Wheel CUUPS chapter at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair in New Jersey. She has been following the Pagan path for almost 20 years and has been a Druid for the last 10. She is also a journalist and a photographer covering local town news.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/author\/atrip\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}