An Earth Day celebration!
April 22, 2026 | Topics: Events, Spotlight
By Eddee Daniel
“We must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day. We must make root, send out some little fiber at least, even every winter day. I am sensible that I am imbibing health when I open my mouth to the wind.” ~ Thoreau
When we celebrate Earth Day, in addition to the Earth itself, we celebrate the awakening of what has come to be known as the “environmental movement.” We celebrate the plants and animals and places and processes that make up Earth’s ecological systems; we also celebrate the people who care about all of it, who work to improve things, and who help clean up its rivers! (If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to sign up with Milwaukee Riverkeeper for the annual River Cleanup on Saturday, April 25. They are going for a Guinness world record number of cleaner uppers!)
Earth Day is about people as well as the planet. It is about how people relate to the Earth, the environment, the rivers, the wildlife, the whole ball of wax!
As a tribute to Earth Day I bring you two types of treat. First, as you might expect, a selection of images especially chosen for Earth Day from our wealth of nature all over SE Wisconsin; places where you can go to “re-ally” yourself to nature every day. (The links in the captions will take you to information about and additional photos from each place. The featured photo above is from Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve in Grafton.)
The second treat is a pair of my favorite short poems by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver.
The best thing you can do to celebrate Earth Day is to live each and every day mindfully as if it were Earth Day.
“This curious world which we inhabit is more wonderful than it is convenient; more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used.” ~ Thoreau
Wild geese
By Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
The Summer Day
By Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean–
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down–
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
Bonus photo! Sometimes the Earth is simply unpredictable, awesome and compelling. I shot the photo below literally yesterday, April 21, 2026. While waiting for a prescribed burn a thunderstorm that was not in the forecast popped up, simultaneously delaying the burn and creating an amazing sky show.
Happy Earth Day!
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Eddee Daniel, writer/photographer, is a board member of Preserve Our Parks, the Project Director of A Wealth of Nature, and editor of The Natural Realm blog. Read more or subscribe at awealthofnature.org. Also available by arrangement for group presentations and guided tours.
The Natural Realm blog is part of A Wealth of Nature, which is a program of Preserve Our Parks.
About Preserve Our Parks
Preserve Our Parks, Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of parks and green spaces. Our mission: To advocate for and promote Milwaukee area parks and open spaces and to strive to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine.
For more than 25 years, we have been a leader in advocating for the protection of Milwaukee County park lands, halting many proposals to develop, privatize, or sell local parkland and lakefront spaces. More information about POP, including past accomplishments, is available at www.preserveourparks.org.