• CONDITIONS: When the Wind Blows!

• VIEWFINDER: Jogging with the Giants

• SCORECARD: Who Helps or Hurts the Planet?

• CAIRNS: Earth Day Tips for Action

In the area of Texas where I live, great turbines harvest the incessant wind. Standing nearly 400 feet tall, with blades more than 150’ across, these giants whirl day and night. Within the nacelle, a truck sized hub of machinery where the blades attach, is the generator that converts the turning gears to electricity. Within miles of my Bright Star Farm are wind farms that produce more than 2000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power two million homes!

The growth of renewable energy in Texas continues. Last year about 35% of all electricity was produced by renewable energy sources. Nationwide about 25% of power came from renewable sources, a huge leap in just five years. The Bright Star Farm is a small piece of this green planet drive. The solar panels on my house produced enough power to run the house in 10 months of 2023.

The Biden Administration has promoted far-reaching projects for a green planet in the past several months. Billions of dollars will push innovative programs and technologies forward in the drive for ecological sustainability.

Enjoy the full article with much more depth at the Signposts Blog

They are so big you feel like a pygmy. The enormous Sequoias of Henry Cowell Park in the Santa Cruz Valley of California stretch the limit of imagination and vision. The tallest are more than 270 feet with a circumference of 50 feet! Some trees were seedlings when Rome fell, the Sui Dynasty united China, and the Mayan’s built Tikal. They have survived with amazing resilience the fires, earthquakes, and human greed across 1500 years.

I’ve visited this park several times with my son and his family who live nearby. One year I ran through the towering trees, cooled by their magnificent crowns so far above me. I thought of this one hour of one day of one year of one century—and was awed by the insignificance of my moment flashing by the dark brown bark of these giants.

Conservation efforts have been challenging over the past century. The park is ironically named for a man who clear cut hundreds of acres of these trees to feed his greed, never thinking of the environment or his legacy for generations to come! That’s a challenge today. What will I do to help or harm this one planet for the curly-haired grandson who has skipped down the trails with me? What can we do? Now is the time to move to action!

Tackling a planet worth of problems is impossible. But acting green in your world this week is do-able! Here are some ideas:

• Take those plastic bags to the recycling. It’s easy to collect them in a cardboard box tucked in a corner of the garage or a closet. Find the box store or grocery store nearby with a marked receptacle. It’s easy to keep these pests away from our beautiful world!

• Stop using plastic bottles and containers. Cans that can be recycled are better, or get a product with different packaging. Jan uses detergent sheets for the washing machine, not products in large plastic jugs. She makes apple juice from the concentrates, not the one-use jugs.

• Move part of your retirement investments to funds that hold companies with strong environmental practices. They have solid earnings. Divest from companies that harm the planet with their products or practices.

• Buy local food. So good, and minimal transportation pollution!

The Earth Day Organization has many more practical and powerful ways you can use to make your world a greener place to live! Look at this page with 52 ways to take action! Earth Day Tips