Tag Archives: earth day

Slow Earth Day

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We’ve been celebrating April 22nd as Earth Day since 1970.  It’s a day when people flock outside to volunteer for eco-restoration or to work on other environmental or community-minded projects. It’s a great time to get involved, be active, and make a difference.

But now I think it’s time Earth Day had a companion: Slow Earth Day. We need a day to simply look, listen, and above all appreciate nature.

Let’s start today… or maybe tomorrow.

April 18th is hereby Slow Earth Day.

DDahnDouglasSquirrel

 

Even ordinary things in nature can be amazing, if you look beyond notions of “good nature” or “bad nature”. Just look, and appreciate. At least for one day.

 

It may not be that great…but it’s a pretty good piece of turf.

From: Is Weedy the New Wild?

 

Earth Day is a day to get yourself outside. Slow Earth Day is a day to get outside yourself.

What would you look like to a woodpecker? Try seeing the world through wild eyes.

I did this illustration for my Federation Forest Project. We were trying to promote meaningful nature connections for children.

 

We’re all just big clumps of carbon-based molecules, arranged differently.

Ah, but what beautiful arrangements!

DeniseDahn_kid_in_nature4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Slow Earth Day!

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You might also like:

Forest Sketch

Old Growth Forests

Slow Nature

 

Happy Earth Day!

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To celebrate Earth Day, I’m recycling this post (originally from last June)

It’s a beautiful day. Go outside and hug a tree!

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Have you ever looked at one of those massive, towering Douglas firs or western red cedars—the kind with roots that grip the forest floor like giant toes and crowns that disappear high in the sky—and wondered to yourself…what stories could this tree tell?

(A forest sketch I did while pondering my novel “The Hollow Cedar“)

 

Vulnerable new life

Every tree has its own story to tell. A new seedling faces a thousand dangers every day in the wild, unpredictable forest.

A Douglas fir seedling and beetle I painted for a signage project at Federation Forest.

 

The few who make it

The true forest giants—the ones that live for hundreds of years—have something to tell us about success in life…about being a survivor, and about beauty and strength in old age.

Six hundred years later, the seedling and its neighbors tower over a bull elk.

 

It all fits together

Life in a mature forest seems to go on forever, with layer upon layer of living beings—from the teeming soil to the bustling canopy. Some life-forms are tiny, ephemeral, nearly invisible. Others seem impossibly big. It’s a study in contrasts.

 

Where do we fit in?

I may be biased, but the forests of the Pacific Northwest are the most beautiful, fascinating places on earth. In any season, they are enjoyable—but when I’m in an old-growth forest on a bright summer day, I want to grow roots, sink them deep into the forest floor, and stay there forever.

A snippet of a working sketch for “The Hollow Cedar“.

 

What are you doing to celebrate the Earth today?