Introduction to May Peace on Earth Day

WOVEN’s May book selection, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, by Terry Tempest Williams, is a compelling account of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, a nearby migratory-bird refuge and the ill effects of humankind’s recklessness on both; plus, much, much more. Like the beloved birds she observes making their ingeniously assembled nests, Williams weaves together a beautifully constructed narrative, intricately combining multiple, multifaceted strands of interconnected material—both profoundly personal and political. Her gimlet-eyed observances, poet’s voice and spiritual sensibility imbue Refuge with its powerful rendering of, and passionate plea for, our disappearing natural world. Williams’s story spans a full spectrum of urgent concerns and essential issues in our catastrophically-inclined climate culture. The following links amplify some of the myriad topics and themes Williams covers in her astonishing classic of our times. Starting with one of Williams’s most recent projects, an obituary for the Earth, Burning Testament, a collaboration with the painter, Mary Frank. Further exploring the anti-nuclear movement with an idea whose time has come: The Global Peace Dividend Initiative. Sharing Wild Geese, a haunting poem by Mary Oliver that opens Refuge. Shining a light on the Central Park Conservancy including the Ramble, what Frederick Law Olmsted described as a “wild garden” where the birds are! Spreading the love with the phenomenal United Plant Savers, co-founded by renowned herbalist and environmentalist, Rosemary Gladstar, the major force behind keeping Fire Cider free! Remembering a bird-watcher’s mecca: Madeline Island (original Native Ojibwe name: Mooningwanekaaning—Place of the Golden-Breasted Flicker Woodpecker). Reading the eye-opening This is the Way the World Ends (title taken from the T.S. Eliot poem “Hollow Men“) by the fantastical James Morrow. Watching Juliette of the Herbs, (no relation to Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits) a short documentary about Juliette de Bairacli Levy, legendary herbal healer and animal lover whose gardens fed, nourished and healed innumerable humans, animals, pollinators and planet earth. Cooking up something yummy from The Angelica Home Kitchen: Recipes and Rabble Rousings from an Organic Vegan Restaurant  by Leslie McEachern. Listening to Ecstatic Chorus! by a variety of birds around NYC.