Dear Reader
May is traditionally the month of love and romance expressed
in many different ways. Many weddings take place in May; mine
certainly did 43 years ago. In this month we celebrate Mothers
Day, and while some of the sentiments expressed are often a bit
"kitschig" and sentimental, they are genuine.
 Love of mothers leads us to love of family and children and thus
a love of future, of survival. How well we will survive into the
future is up to all of us. If you look at our front page with so
many children you do realize that looking to the past does not
guarantee survival. However, making decisions that benefit our
children will lead to survival in the future.
When I by chance discuss the world and its sorry state with
people I hear sometimes "Ah well, I will not be around then.
That is after my time! I’ll be long gone then!", it gives me
shivers, not good ones I might add. How can someone say that?
They have children and do not care what happens to them and
their children?
It is this short-sightedness that justifies bad decisions like
choosing personal comfort over a more laborious solution to
everyday problems. How bad does it have to get before we all
wake up and get back to some simple basics, like getting off the
couch or chair and into the garden, doing some planting of what
is needed for ourselves and the other species to survive; like
cutting the lawn with manpower and not machinery; going on foot
to nearby stores instead of getting in the car and going to far
flung places too often.
There are all sorts of things we can do to help our planet
survive better. In the pollution and waste department we have a
lot to learn. Recycling is not enough, the game is about
reducing!
Have you seen the pictures of plastic swimming in the Pacific
Ocean? It is a patch the size of Texas! Perhaps a good water
filter instead of bottled water comes to mind? Perhaps a little
less meat eating will save the rainforests and keep landfills
from overflowing with packaging material. I recall a time not
too long ago when meat was for special occasion. Sundays there
was a roast or a chicken or goose, duck or turkey for special
festivities. Monday we always had leftovers from Sunday.
Tuesdays we had a noodle dish, Wednesdays something based on
rice with vegetables, Thursday we had pancakes or potato
pancakes with compote, Fridays we had fish or vegetarian food
and Saturdays there was "Eintopf" or stew of sorts. This is a
lot less expensive diet and healthier too by far! And whatever
was in season we preserved for the long winter. We did not feel
the need for exotic items; we were good cooks that knew how to
make something out of almost nothing.
Have you already abolished the throw-away plastic shopping bag?
When we were younger none of us had those but used our own
totes. In the kitchen we did things by hand, not with a gadget.
We washed our dishes by hand and also did a lot of hand-laundry.
We had no washing machines or dryers and our laundry was always
clean. We did everything ourselves and the very big pieces like
bed-linens went to a professional laundry and came back sleek
and feeling cool and wonderful.
If we would just do some of those things how much waste would be
eliminated? Just think about it and how you can help make a
better future for our children. As we celebrate to thank our
mothers for all they have done and sacrificed for us, let us
also take on the hat of mothering our planet back to health.
There are some websites you can look at to be better informed of
what is going on and what we can do. I recommend:
www.earth911.com;
www.earth-policy.org;
www.commondreams.org;
www.filterforgood.com; and check out
www.oneworld.net. Perhaps
when we are all better informed we will take the time to think
about what we ourselves can do to make things better.
 All this does not mean that we cannot celebrate the good things
in our lives. I am not a person that likes to spread bad news,
but I felt I had to bring this up. It is somewhat urgent that we
all act. Let the glorious spring which arrived remind us of the
hope it holds for all renewal.
Have a happy Mother’s Day!
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
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