🌎 Earth Day: The Quiet Things We Still Can Do 🌱

 🌎 Earth Day: The Quiet Things We Still Can Do 🌱

When my child was little, we used to go to Earth Day events.
One year, we were given a small tree 🌿

I don’t remember exactly where it was planted.
We didn’t even have a yard.
But I remember the feeling—that something small could still take root.p

Today, I think about planting a “secret tree” again 🌱
Not for show. Not for a post. Just… because.

So much has changed.

Humans have circled the moon again 🌕
There are more cars than ever 🚗

The oceans I swam in near Zipolite felt healing—warm, alive—but even there, the heat was intense ☀️
Hotter now, they say. Waiting for rain 🌧️

Back here in Vancouver, spring feels different too.
Hotter days. Strange timing.

Not far away, Lytton burned to the ground in minutes—and still hasn’t truly come back 🔥
Some places don’t rebuild. Not because people don’t care, but because the cost has become too high.

In the Arctic, ice that took thousands of years to form is disappearing in decades ❄️

And here, by the water, I paint 🎨

I’ve been working on murals—walls and even a rock wall—filled with whales 🐋 dolphins 🐬 otters 🦦 and mermaids 🧜‍♀️
People stop. Really stop.

And in those moments, I tell them:
These aren’t just beautiful animals. These are keystone species.

I talk about the teachings of the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, and Tsleil-Waututh Nation—
how, not that long ago, when the tide went out, the table was set 🌊

Mothers gathered shellfish.
Food was cooked right on the beach.
Families lived with the rhythm of the ocean.

And now?

We can’t eat the mussels.
We can’t trust the water.
The harbour is filled with ships and noise 🚢

I won’t even swim here.

That’s how much has changed.

So what do we do with all of this?

Maybe Earth Day isn’t about solving everything.
Maybe it’s about not turning away.

Maybe it’s about creating moments—
a mural that makes someone stop,
a story that reminds them what once was,
a small tree planted quietly 🌱

Because even now, life continues:
An old dog finding warmth in the sun ☀️
Rain that eventually comes 🌧️
A person still willing to imagine something better 💚

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Reflective Questions 🌿

• What stories about the land and water where I live have been forgotten?
• What would it mean to truly respect Indigenous knowledge today?
• When did I last stop and really notice nature? 🌲
• What small act can I do that reconnects people to the Earth?
• What has pollution changed in my daily life?
• What does restoring balance look like in my community?
• What am I willing to protect?
• What can art do that policies alone cannot? 🎨
• If the “table was once set,” how do we begin again?
• What would my “secret tree” be? 🌱