Earth Day is for us, not the planet

April 22, 2026
Owl Feather Farm, San Juan Island

“Save the planet!”

Sorry, wrong.

The planet’s fine. The human race is what needs saving, and things don’t look good.

So… “Save us!”

Earth Day is for us, not the planet
The light and the sky are eternal—our job is to live with grace

Why are we in trouble? Partly because we have fouled our own nest so thoroughly that it has a profound negative effect on the wellbeing of almost every human. And partly because we have behaved so recklessly that our species may not deserve an eternity here on the third rock from the sun. Earth is acting to save itself—climate change, for example—and who can blame her?

It would take all day to list just the most obvious anecdotal examples, but here are a few:

• In the middle of the world’s largest ocean, an expanse of water bigger by itself than all the land above water, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 617,000 square miles of floating trash, mostly plastic, totaling 100,000 tons. That’s an area almost as big as Alaska, and the garbage is roughly the weight of the world’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford. Who put all that trash in the middle of the ocean? We all did. How long will it be there? Forever.

• A very large proportion of American adults—around 90 percent—have traces of Roundup in their bloodstreams. This is a highly caustic chemical that kills on contact. What could go wrong?

• More than half a century after Richard Nixon, of all people, banned it, DDT is still found in the marine ecosystem off California, and continues to kill and injure coastal animals there.

The Earth and its inhabitants will adapt to challenge. Some may survive, some not, many will change. After all, the dinosaurs transformed into the wonderful birds who surround us every day. None of us can snap our fingers and heal the issues facing humanity. But we can all choose to live as best we can.

Here at Owl Feather Farm, we still recycle everything. It’s out of fashion now, but we do it anyway. Nicollé and Eric drive very little, and we have reliable vehicles that have lasted more than two decades. We avoid plastic as much as humanly possible. We grow much of our own food, don’t eat processed junk, buy organic, are active every day, and practice yoga, Pilates, resistance exercise, meditation and spiritual growth. We’re outdoors in the sun and fresh air many hours each day. We give and receive love from our four resident farm animals, and we tend our bodies and minds, land and water, with care and integrity.

Just because the planet will survive us is no reason to treat our home, and ourselves, with disrespect. The rainbows that arc above our farm remind us of the world’s overall grace—which will long outlast all of us. So today is for us now and please join us to celebrate April 22, “Save the People Day.”

—Eric Lucas

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