p. 88
… it is one thing to sit around talking about how the balance of nature is
being upset and how black the future looks because of this, … it is quite
another to ask ourselves what we are doing about our own plot of ground, whether
it is a little four by four square, or an acre, or a whole farm or forest.
One thing that irritates me to the extreme is when rich folks and multi-billion dollar corporations BUY carbon offsets to cover their polluting, landscape pillaging butts. Especially the ones that yap their traps on prime time news shows telling the rest of us what we oughtta do about global warming.
Here’s a better idea. Buy a houseplant.** I don’t even care if you buy it at Wally World. Whether you live in a 300 sq ft city apartment or a 5500 sq ft suburban monolith, you’ve got room for one little plant.
I never thought much about plants or gardening until my sister bought me my first peace lily.
I loved that plant. I watered it exactly the amount I was supposed to (not too much, not too little), misted the leaves with water daily, and dusted them weekly. It was my first taste of gardening, the seed planted.
It would be years and a few more peace lilies before the seed grew and flourished, but it has grown and it has flourished and now my flowers and plants are the balm of my soul on this earth. Yea. Sounds corny, I know. But it is what it is. I derive as much pleasure in their care as I do standing back and just looking at the colors and textures. It’s like… WOW… I can paint. Only I use living things and dirt rather than a brush and canvass.
And it all started with one houseplant, given as a gift by a sister who couldn’t think of anything else to a sister with an assumed black thumb. You never know if this could be the outlet for your creativity until you try it! And you’ll be saving the environment at the same time.
Save the plant! Save the world!
(If you don’t get it, substitute the word “cheerleader” for “plant”. 
)
**(And you don’t have to buy anything that exists only in the minds of those consumers wallowing in guilt about their hefty carbon footprint who don’t have the moral fortitude to actually do anything real to change it.)
