Mother Earth Day in Wakefield

A friend was complaining the other day that celebrating the Earth only gets one day's notice. I said it was a lot like Mother's Day...

So another Mother Earth Day in Wakefield was celebrated at our Community Center this past weekend and though it was a bit chilly in the morning, it was a glorious sunny day. Especially good for the SHE (Sustainable Home Environment) Team as we were outside and the only participant who could not afford a fancy tent. Our booth might have resembled a Kool Aid stand but we made it the best darn home made booth we could make! At one point we pulled a log over to help steady the wall in the high winds and we noticed what looked like a 4 inch long cicada had been making this log her home. We were like kids trying to protect this beautiful insect. We made a little home for her out of bark, even had a little door, but she was intent on finding something else. I finally got the cicada to climb up on a piece of bark and we moved her away from traffic so she wouldn't get stepped on. For some reason, this was a good symbolic way to start the event which had grown dramatically from our participation in last years event. Our display had become better, and we were feeling that progress had been made.

This year we made experimental "Whole Earth" Blocks out of construction wastes from a local waste facility in Cantley called Thibault;  along with two kinds of fiber blocks made with wood wastes from a local arborist company. These Whole Earth Blocks were something tangible to show what we were about, along with our improved brochure and graphics. Not bad for a minimal investment of time over money. We had the entire SHE team, Bradley, Myles, Perry and myself and later on, were joined by Andrew who is the unofficial 5th member of our team (Andrew is working on an ambitious multi-unit building in Wakefield using the SHE model).

Because this technology is new and innovative, getting to a take off point is slow and tentative. I was saying to a friend today that if our company does find traction in the near future, it will be a sweet success story given our modest beginnings. Earth Day in Wakefield attracted a lot of attention in our community and with local authorities. We have come to realize that success is not just dependent on proven technology and affordability, but is related to political and scientific awareness and acceptance. All great ideas and good companies must find a judicious balance for the acceptance of both the technology and the concept.

Our team is ideologically committed to doing something bold and good for the world and ourselves. We also strongly believe in our founder and good friend, Bradley Robinson. It is events like Earth Day that people like us get to show off our hard work and our dreams for a better world. Perhaps similar to children showing their love and support for their Moms on Mother's Day, the challenge for us will be to keep the love and support for the Earth going strong for the remaining 364 days of the year.

When I hear those cicadas finally coming out to cheer us on in summer, I will think of our friend that we inadvertently put out of its home and then took the time and effort to ensure she was safe. Earth day is all about showing that you care for what lives on into the future. Simply speaking, it is caring about our collective future.