With Earth Day approaching we as a Berwick community, both team members and residents, have been thinking about what it means to have a day dedicated to our collective home. Berwick on the Park Resident, Wendy, shares her thoughts on Earth Day and what comes to mind when recognizing Mother Nature’s resilience and limits.
I came to planet conservation forty years ago and to concern for the reality that we live in a closed system that has the danger of poisoning itself. I came to that conclusion in a grade twelve biology class when the teacher talked about the earth being a closed system like a test tube and that if you put a teaspoon of yeast and a teaspoon of sugar in that test tube, and cork it, it will kill itself on its own toxics. I’ve always been grateful for that teacher because it gave me a totally different point of view mainly that there are limits to growth. Consequently, I began teaching my kids small things such as turning off lights when leaving a room, not running the water when brushing their teeth, not littering, and timing their showers.
April 22 is Earth Day. What does that mean to you? I’ve been scattered towards making the world a better place environmentally but still read research, and media releases on the state of our planet and the creatures in it. Now I’ve been shaken into exploring my role in saving the planet. But at the same time, dealing with a major task of ageing: accepting getting old and feeling uncertain about how much life I may have left. Throughout my life, I’ve worked and marched as an advocate for the homeless, the poor, peace, the environment and now senior health care. I walk when I can, take public transit, recycle, pick up litter, shun over-packaged products, use my own grocery bags, and drink tap water. Even suffering my grown children’s laughter because I barely get wet when I shower.
But I’m tired, naively having thought by the time I became old and needed support, everything would be fixed before baby boomers are knocking at the door and looking for care. I’m supposed to be dead but I’m not because medical technology has given me a titanium elbow, two new hips and diabetic care sensor technology. To top it off, the world out there is like a stampede in an Alberta storm with horses free from the barn and racing to some kind of finish line. No one knows what to do or what not do, so doing nothing and letting the horses run free.
It’s hard to stay hopeful in the midst of this. But I’m reminded that all I can do is govern and determine my own behavior. I hang on to famous anthropologist, Margaret Mead’s words: “Never doubt. That a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Written by Wendy Weseen, Berwick on the Park Resident
Wendy was born in Yorkshire, England and immigrated with her family to Saskatchewan in 1955. Her family moved to Hope, British Columbia, while she stayed in Saskatchewan to complete a nursing diploma and social work degree, get married, and raise three children, working as an artist, a community developer and medical social worker. After retirement, she acquired a Fine Art degree and was able to finally engage in writing and visual art which I’d previously squeezed into the corners of my life. Twelve years ago, Wendy moved to Kamloops after the death of her husband and to care for her aging mother, continuing her involvement in both writing and visual arts. Wendy is what might be called a tree hugger and has stayed involved with save the planet groups most of her life.
She moved into Berwick on the Park almost 5 years ago. Her mother lived here for seven years before needing more complex care. Wendy has been a writer most of her life, remembering she wrote her first poem at twelve years. A personal journal has been part of her life for many years. Since moving to Kamloops, Wendy has been a columnist for local newspapers and fortunate to have personal essays published in The Globe and Mail. A few of her poems have been accepted by literary magazines.