Five Ways to Improve the Environment

1. Recharge your batteries. Batteries contain mercury and cadmium, major sources of hazardous contamination. Use rechargeable batteries, recycle alkaline batteries.

2. Stamp out StyrofoamStyrofoam is polystyrene foam made from the carcinogen benzene converted to styrene and then injected with gases. Polystyrene form is non-biodegradable and is deadly to marine life. It floats on ocean surfaces, breaks up into pellets resembling food, styrofoam clogs the systems of turtles and other sealife, and its buoyancy keeps them from diving for food. Avoid foam packaging in egg cartons, disposable picnic goods, etc. Ask for paper take-out plate at restaurants.

3. Recycle your motor oilUsed motor oil can contaminate drinking water supplies and create a poisonous oil stick. One quart of motor oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water.You can avoid this by checking at gas station to be sure it will be recycled, inquire if there is an oil-changing outlet that recycles their oil for a small fee.Most recycled oil is reprocessed for ships and industrial boilers. Millions of barrels of oil can be saved by refining motor oil.

4. Avoid incandescent light bulbsCompact fluorescents last longer and use about 1/4 of the energy of an incandescent bulb. Substituting a compact fluorescent light for a traditional bulb will keep a half-ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb.

5. Hazardous toxinsBillions of dollars are spent every year on hazardous toxins. Oven cleaners, no-iron bed linens, air fresheners, mothballs, permanent ink pens, and baby powder may contain dangerous toxins.Use baking soda instead of oven cleaner, herbal mixtures or vinegar with lemon juice and orange zest instead of air freshener, cedar chips instead of mothballs. Air fresheners may contain harmful chemicals like xylene, ethanol or naphthalene. Mothballs contain paradichlorobenzene.

The Cave

It was autumn when I found the cave.
The door was partly obscured by tumbled boards and a wrecked auto, a '29 Buick, daisies and delphiniums growing around the crankshaft.
Whoever stopped there and for whatever reason apparently moved on and abandoned the iron horse that carried him from West Virginia.
I climbed into the auto through the rusty window, hurried back to my campgrounds for a flashlight, entered into the cave and walked about three feet.
There was no sound except my pounding heart. I cautioned forward and turned off the flashlight.
It was one o'clock in the afternoon.
Through spiders of light, I saw a marble table, thick and of good quality.
Up a stairway beside an outdoor grill that I was afraid might contain bones, I saw light at the top and three small doors, one partly open, one with creaky hinges, and one unmovable.
I pushed open the one with creaky hinges and waited.
No sound except the click of my flashlight.
Out jumped a bat at then then another.
Silence. Who would hear me if I screamed?
The light behind me dashed across grey stones as I stood on the stairway.
It had just rained yesterday and the sweet perfume of flowers welcomed me as I approached a new morning.
I wanted to seek further on and walked slowly down the stairs, saving the mysteries for tomorrow.

Blue Lagoon

Soft wind, cool wind, from a blue lagoon.
Strong wind, friendly wind,
Sings a happy tune.
Wind brings ships home,
Sends them out again.
I see them from a mountaintop
Through misty pine trees.
Some of the ships contain beautiful stairways,
But not more beautiful than mine
To my blue lagoon.
The wind becomes a river,
Becomes a rock,
Becomes a hill.
I am in my blue lagoon,
Blue now, still.

Monk's Morning

The Monk decided to hide in his cave of gray.
He lived in a village and then went away.
He lost his fair love and lived in the hills.
Where he was awakened each morning
By spry whipporwills.
He stared at a far mountain and wished he was there.
Walking and talking with his maiden so fair.
She played a flute to lure him back.
One morning he decided to pack.
And walked several miles toward the tune.
Before he realized it was really a loon.
So he turned around back to his cave.
Yes, indeed, he was very brave.

Mysterious Pathway

On a rainy day one morning in June,
I saw a path by a new moon.
As I strolled through my favorite garden,
Suddenly, someone saw me and said "Beg your pardon!"
He said "Where do you come from,
And why are you here?"
I ignored him for awhile, and then could see clear.
We was blind and afraid because he was lost,
Was in the gazebo away from the frost.
"Whose garden is this?"? I boldly inquired
'It is one I have often greatly admired.
He said to me quietly, "I was just passing through.
"I turned and walked on, the flowers seemed new.

A Night in the Forest

One night quite mysterious and dreary.

While I was lost and followed light,

The moon was rising wearily,

It was within my sight.

The owls were moaning slowly,

Like they do before the rain,

It was something like small groaning,

Some may have been in pain.

My friends took one path,

And I took another.

Somehow, I escaped their wrath

While searching for my brother.

I stood very still and listened,

The light seemed very near.

The tree limbs softly glistened,

There was not a sound to hear.

The pot of gold was waiting

My friends said it was theirs.

I was tired of their hating,

So I walked among the bears.

The owls and bears and other creatures

Looked at me and were amazed.

I could dimply see their features

Though their eyes were ablaze.

I walked among the rocks and leaves

While glancing left and right.

Hoping deeply as one believes

I would be rescued from my plight.

The atmosphere was ghostly,

A lantern moved real slow.

I saw one eye more closely,

It was someone I might know.

A friendly eye, two of them, in fact,

They looked just like my own,

Reminding me of our private pact,

To rescue the other when grown.

I followed, he led the way,

He turned and smiled at me.

His smile and strength welcomed a new day.

Suddenly I could see.

The Meadowlarks

An agile gentleman plowed forward in heavy snow in early March as the spring dashed over the crystal brook during the season reckoned astronomically in the southern hemisphere as extending from the September equinox to the December solstice, one of the two points on the celestial sphere where the equator intercepts the ecliptic.

Monday morning, the inquisitive baby meadowlarks descended upon the exquisite park where pine trees marked the early pathway.

The wind was writing a fine tune above a nearby goldmine and the king meadowlark zoomed over to inquire as to why the wandering baby meadowlarks arrived so soon.

The king meadowlark was urgently awakened by an electric thunderstorm as he shot to the deserted farmhouse on this misty morning.

In his concern for the anticipated loss of the wandering baby meadowlarks, he arrived at the park where the branches yielded to an abundance of yellow birds.

The birds dove through a tent fence unnoticed by the king meadowlark in the dense twilight and hid their slings, arrows and stones discovered by the king meadowlark, who placed the stones side by side creating a magnificent palace where the wandering baby meadowlarks were joined by the agile gentlemen who scooped up the birds in his fishing net and moved them to the palace accompanied by the majestic king with a banquet of marinated oysters, vanilla blossoms, crisp cabbage, baby sweet corn, turnip seeds, green string beans, radishes, celery stuffed with baked pigeon eggs, wheat sprouts, and spiced pasta trimmed with sprinkled parsley.