Madelyn's Story
I’ve always known important water is, but Earth Camp has really opened my eyes to how much water we really have left, and how much everyone and everything relies on it. We learned a lot about how much water we waste with a single flush or just during short shower. It matters so much because, we aren’t the only things on our planet that need the water we are using so obliviously.
If we have less, we use less, this was proven so well when we went out to the Saguaro Harvest Campground with only one gallon of water. If our desert counterparts can cope without so much water, then so can we. The kangaroo rat never needs to drink freestanding water, it gets it from the seeds that it eats, and even the moisture in its breath is trapped by its air tight den. We don’t need to be quiet so extreme but we can be more conscious about how we use our water.
It is one thing to preach to the choir and a complete other thing to actually go out and act. To go and set an example in your community, like Brad Lancaster who takes almost everything he uses from nature, will invoke people to actually act when they see you doing it.
To set a good example for our neighbors and people around us my family and I are going to replace our grass with fake grass or native vegetation. Since we live in a hot, dry desert it takes a lot of water to keep our large grassy area green through winter and summer. Also if we decide to add native vegetation it will become far more environmentally friendly and create a habitat for the animals in the wash and desert area behind us. Rainwater that we are in the process of collecting with recycled gutters will be used to water the plants we already have in our yard. Over the next few months I will work with my family to design a landscape and research the plants that are best suited for our area.
Truth of the Stars
The glittering orbs litter the sky
in their moonlight,
spiraling
descent.
Singing a beautiful,
sparkling harmony of stories untold.
They shine,
With intense
Driving beauty,
Giving Place and order
To the life Below
They open Your mind,
To truth
In its purest Form.
An unrenounced
Illusion of insignificance
Rising to The call of
The moon
Shining with Pure
untainted Brilliance,
Not marred by the
Garish lights below.
Answering the call of
the silver lights of night
regaining,
our dreams,
our fantasies
to ascend to the level
of purity
of the heavens above.
those which,
we have turned our backs on
but still,
unduly yearn for
the sanctity,
unity,
and harmony
with the
ageless stars
above.
In This Barren Land
In this barren land,
the twisted trees
claw their way to the sky
reaching for
the rain that won’t come.
Greens in dusty
dead hues,
days of heat
and strife,
paradoxed by darkness
and cool,
cold night.
In this barren land,
the sun beats down mercilessly
upon the strange
spinney plants
imbedded in the hard,
packed,
pale earth
on which the strange animals
slither, crawl, or land upon.
In this barren land,
the mountains ring,
acres of dusty
blue sky.
But
if you happen to look
beyond the mirage of emptiness,
you see the hawk
circling in the sky,
the cactus wren
and wood pecker
at the cactus.
The snakes,
lizards,
and insects
crawl upon the earth
while rodents
beneath it.
In this barren land,
so full of life,
is where I reside.
The souls of the
trees
whisper their
stories.
The Mother Pine,
of the children
at her feet.
Her brethren,
of the water
at their roots
and the succulent moss
dangling from their
delicate,
white fingers.
The Old Ones
speak in their
deep,
melodic voices
of the cleansing fire,
licking at their
brittle crowns
high above,
of scars
from the beginning of time
and the healing.