Green inspiration and fears

If you are in need of motivation to make the effort to go green, help the environment or just live a healthier lifestyle, I can recommend two sites, to begin with, that may help you shift your attitudes to nature lover and environmentalist. My dear writing friend Sandra Friend has written about the Florida she loves. She lives the life -- walks the walk AND talks the talk. And her friends -- oh my! Photographers and environmentalists and nature lovers and people devoting their lives to capturing the beauty and saving the land.

The photo above is of a baby loggerhead turtle. She took the photo at the Turtle Hospital. Need I say more or use the word endangered with this little cutey?

Please take a hike with Bart Smith. By the way, he is one of the few who has hiked all of the national scenic trails. I've known several hardy souls who spent a year preparing to walk HALF of the Appalachian Trail and had to be rescued before they'd finished. Bart's more than finished the Appalachian Trail, he's photographed it and went on to do eight more such treks in the past 16 years.

I just took a picture tour on his website along the Appalachian Trail and I so wish I were there, just soaking up the beauty. And for quilters -- I saw quilt patterns wherever I looked. Looking for a landscape to recreate in cloth? Look at what Bart has framed with his camera. The Florida trail has some particularly interesting concepts for fabric artists, at least it grabbed me.

In Florida, Sandra urgently works to save our public parks and blogs about her concerns. Talk about a lone voice in the wilderness! When it comes to budget trimming in our legislation, perhaps they are trimming more than we can afford. On this blog site, she has set up an interactive map of the affected sites.

Maybe you wonder why you should care about Florida's woes. But you've heard the adage of helping others so that when the time comes there will be someone left to help you. Plus we all know there is more to Florida than Disney's creations, and we also know that we are the United States and helping another state is much like helping ourselves. And if that isn't enough, perhaps this is a wake up call for you to check out what your own government is endangering with their budget cuts.

Nature and beauty as we know are not indulgences, they are necessary ingredients, food for our souls. And without a healthy soul -- we're black-hearted robots! Or at least we're empty and searching for something.

I didn't start this blog as an advocacy for action or a letter writing campaign to our legislators, but maybe that's what it must be. This is a year for action. I fear we -- me -- sat too long trusting others to make the right decisions. Now it is time to needle someone into doing the right things. Saving our natural treasures is definitely the right thing!!!