Earth

 


(Orange Butterfly)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you this morning?
JOE: A little frustrated.
CALLIOPE: Not with your writing I hope.
JOE: No. My email program is acting up for some reason and refused to cooperate.
CALLIOPE: I assume you are working on the problem.
JOE: I am but I don't like all the time it takes from something productive.
CALLIOPE: Like what?
JOE: Lately I have been thinking about how our issues with the economy tie in with concerns about the environment and with how we treat each other.
CALLIOPE: A big order.
JOE: It is. I have been wondering just how they fit together, what we can do about our world and relationships and what I can contribute.
CALLIOPE: That's quite a bit to think about all at once.
JOE: I agree, but I don't think any of our earth problems can be resolved in isolation.
CALLIOPE: I expect I will hear more about these ideas.
JOE: You will as I am able to digest them. Talk with you tomorrow.

 


(Seaside)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What's up today?
JOE: I'm taking a break from wrestling with technology.
CALLIOPE: What brought that on?
JOE: My commitment to writing a column and newsletter for the coming Saturday.
CALLIOPE: Do you have a topic in mind?
JOE: I do.
CALLIOPE: And?
JOE: I want to write about how our concern about finances and health intersect with the way we treat our earth.
CALLIOPE: It sounds like a task for a lifetime rather than a column.
JOE: I agree. Still I want to address it. The problem is how to say something meaningful in 500 words.
CALLIOPE: Quite a challenge. How do you plan to approach it?
JOE: That's what I have been pondering. Maybe I will present it as one of my life mysteries and just open up the topic.
CALLIOPE: That would be a start. Nobody seems to be thinking much about these connections.
JOE: I'll get my mental wheels turning and see what happens. Talk with you tomorrow.

 


(Giant Bugs)

JOE: Good afternoon Calliope.
CALLIOPE: A lazy summer day I suppose.
JOE: I can't deny it. Getting started today seemed an effort.
CALLIOPE: What have you done so far?
JOE: My diary is about all the writing I could manage so far.
CALLIOPE: What about yesterday?
JOE: I finished proofreading about half of our book, Conversations with Calliope, and plan to work on it some more today.
CALLIOPE: How are you going about it?
JOE: One chapter at a time so I don't lose my concentration.
CALLIOPE: Have you recovered from your environmental trauma?
JOE: For the most part. I don't think I told you about the article I read on Saturday.
CALLIOPE: Tell me.
JOE: Clunker poison is a chemical poured into the engine of a car traded in with the new government program. It seizes up the engine irretrievably and the car is demolished even if the rest of it is still usable.
CALLIOPE: Leading to more junk on our national trash pile.
JOE: Exactly. After reading about ecology and our responsibility for the earth, it threw me for a loop. Talk with you tomorrow.

 


(Nature's Beauty)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Feeling productive.
CALLIOPE: What did you produce?
JOE: My column for Saturday, My Great Life and The Dream of the Earth.
CALLIOPE: Tell me about it.
JOE: It's a long story. The highlights are that I read three books connecting my thoughts about stewardship of the earth rather than raping it and leaving a pile of junk in our wake.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like a strong statement.
JOE: The more I read the more troubled I become about our throw-away society and what we are doing to our environment in the process.
CALLIOPE: And you wrote about this in your column?
JOE: I did.
CALLIOPE: Don't you think you might stir up some controversy?
JOE: I hope I do. Sometimes I feel like Chicken Little but the voice of one crying in the wilderness is usually not a popular one.
CALLIOPE: Getting people to change never is a comfortable pursuit.
JOE: I agree. But I think it's time to speak. Talk with you tomorrow.