In the wake of Earth's hottest month in recorded history, drastic changes are called for!

Note the plastic that was included in this nest's construction.

Midori making the most of her restricted life style.

My precious Ford Probes will have to be taken off the roads for good -- for the good of Earth.

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

   On this the 54th Earth Day, my theme is -- naturally -- SAVING EARTH!...

   And so what does a nest that fell from the kinmokusei (sweet osmanthus) tree just next to my home in Yokohama, Japan have to do with saving Earth?

   It shows that all living creatures are dealing with the reality of the times. Some merely succumb to these realities, while others do their best to survive in this world -- and yet others learn to enjoy what they cannot change...

   The little bird that sought to place its nest in the sweet osmanthus tree did its best to utilize what it could to create a nest that would be attractive to a mate -- and to use a circular pattern of weaving to make sure the nest would not fall apart. As you can note from the photograph I have taken of the fallen nest, strands of plastic were included in the nest's construction. In the urban setting where I live, even strands of grass are hard to come by, so the bird supplemented its construction effort with the plastic.

    Unseasonably strong winds, however, brought the nest tumbling to the paved asphalt surface near the foot of the tree.

    Midori is the beautiful 40-year-old Mississippi slider turtle you see in today's installment. She has finally grown so used to me that she will eat from my hand.  She is not permitted to be in Japan, as she and her fellow "imported species" wreak havoc on Japan's fresh water fauna due to the Mississippi sliders' opportunistic ways of life. Midori lays eggs that are not fertile, as she has never been near a male of her kind. I don't know how she feels about that, but I personally lament that she has no opportunity to reproduce. Moreover, the Japanese officials I have spoken with refuse to grant me permission to deliver her to the southeastern United States, from whence her ancestors were illegally brought to Japan...

   Midori has now resigned herself to enjoying my family's love for her -- and basks in the warmth of our care...

   I myself am also dealing with the reality of the times. Despite my aspirations to be "an Earthsaver", I have, over the past 20 years, collected ten 1989 and 1990 Ford Probe automobiles. I literally love them, but now find it necessary to part with them. Not only do they burn gasoline, but they are becoming harder and harder to find parts for. I am trying to find a buyer "of means" who can add them to kerm classic car collection -- but may have to resort to selling them cheaply to others -- or even to scrap them out. I can no longer. afford to keep them -- for both economic reasons and due to my concern for the degradation of the Earth's atmosphere.

   March 2024 was Earth's hottest month on record. Today is Earth Day -- and it is not a time to rejoice, but to respond! The nest building bird in today's blog tried to "reuse"; I am now in the process of "recycling" my Ford Probes; Midori has "reduced" her expectations and is going to wait out the threat to all life that we are facing just as her ancestors managed to somehow wait out the years-long winter of devastation that came about when, approximately 66 million years ago, a huge meteor slammed into the Yucatan region of present-day Mexico, causing the extinction of approximately 75% of Earth's plant and animal species.

Steve Walker

Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.