It’s Earth Day. It seems that I ought to acknowledge it somehow and the way to do so is recognize what’s been happening here. Last week 25 tornadoes were reported in Wisconsin, more than we typically have in year. At some points last week more than half of Wisconsin’s counties were under tornado watches. Over 60,000 people lost power due to storms. The Rock, Fox, Wisconsin, Wolf, Menominee, Yellow, Black, Crawfish, Baraboo, Oconto, and Embarrass rivers all flooded. In some cases causing entire communities to evacuate for days.

What are we doing here? This stuff isn’t okay. Something has to change. I keep thinking of something my old friend Walt Bresette used to tell people. He’d be out speaking to crowds about mining or other environmental issues and he’d tell all those folks out in the crowd who wanted to save the world that it’s not about saving the earth. The earth will be fine. It’s ourselves that we need to save. He was right, you know. I was remembering that as I watched the footage of the mighty Wolf River rising and covering the streets and homes in Fremont, Wisconsin, a town where I used to live.

If we want to survive, we need to honor and respect the waters, the earth, all of this place where we live. The earth will be fine. It is clear that the water, the winds, the fires, all of it, is much stronger and wiser than we are. Time to change our ways.