Sponsored Post – from Earth Day ATX

This post was written by Janis Bookout, Outreach Manager for Earth Day ATX.

For the last year, the team at Earth Day ATX has been preparing for the the April 21st Earth Day ATX festival, with countless hours of preparation spent in the last few months, and the forecast on Saturday includes thunderstorms.

And, so…

We are moving the festival to April 29th. It will be the same time (noon to 7 pm), along with almost all of the same exhibitors and activities–and even more if we can swing it! You can help us promote the new date online by sharing our posts on facebook and twitter. You can also help us by volunteering, sponsoring or exhibiting. The generosity of our community is tremendous, and together, we can have an amazing festival on the 29th!

The team has been heroic. We are working like crazy to let everyone know, line everything up for the change, and begin to reconfirm everyone. We are resolute that the community can come together and make this an even better event. And people are already coming out of the woodwork to help.

But I have to say, I am frustrated, because I was excited for Saturday and don’t want to wait. There are so many incredible activities planned–the voices of the impacted in the Community Justice Hub, the civic engagement at the Changemaker Cafe, the mind-enriching immersive exhibits in the EcoDiscovery Zone, the demos and community mural project in the Sustainable Living Showcase, the array of car-free options in the World of Biking… It goes on and on. But when I set my personal investment (and sleep) aside, I am left in a spirit of wonder.

It has me thinking about what Earth Day means to me and to us. I’m not really talking about the history of Earth Day (an entirely other conversation), but what it means for me. For me, it is a chance to stop and honor my relationship with the Earth – with its soil, its plants, its resources, its air, its animals, its extraordinary diversity of life, and most importantly, its people — all of us.

I am left considering how this came together. The Earth Day festival in Austin has been designed to support and elevate members of the Austin community who are trying to make this world better, starting here at home. What you have at the festival is so many beautiful perspectives from individuals and groups deeply committed to their cause.

If you look at all of our collective and earnest efforts, you can see that most, if not all of us are trying to make some positive difference in the world or clean up a mess humanity has made. We are, in most cases, giving our whole energy to it. And in many cases, we are so passionate about our own causes that we do not always see or include the causes of others in our thinking. Earth Day is a chance for all these causes to come together in one place and engage with the public and each other.

But then, even in the face of our passion, nature will do nature’s thing, which is not that predictable (at least in the short term) and certainly not controllable. And so, we get the prediction of rain — lots of it, and lightning — on Earth Day.

Where does that leave us? It leaves us in the presence of nature’s dominion over us. We have a say, all of us, in the future of our commerce, our behavior, our planet. But ultimately, nature has the final say.

I say this, “Thank you, nature.” This is all as it should be, and it’s a great opportunity to remember that we are not, in fact, in control of every aspect of life.

On Saturday, whether it rains a torrent (and justifies the rescheduling of Earth Day ATX) or laughs at us with a brilliant blue sky, please take a moment to remember how much you appreciate life just as it is. That’s the real opportunity of Earth Day, isn’t it?

And PLEASE join us on Sunday, April 29th, at Huston-Tilloston University, for the best family festival of the year.

Please note – editorials and sponsored posts are written by guest writers to inform and educate the community on a variety of different viewpoints, as well as to share information about local eco-friendly businesses and organizations. However, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Austin EcoNetwork.