Earth Day is almost upon us. April 22, the day that we all wear tree-themed shirts, throw a parade in the earth’s honor and then shovel all the trash our Earth Day celebrations generated into her landfills. No, Earth Day has its merits. Yes, it’s a giant marketing racket when corporations pretend they *aren’t* 80% responsible for the destruction of our planet. But, Earth Day does speak to children and it gets them on board with climate change and environmental education. Which is why Dolly Parton’s message during her NPR interview hit home. Dolly spoke about her hope that we’d treat the world around us with a little more respect. Then she put her thoughts in terms that people of any age would understand, even a child. Dolly said not looking out for Mother Nature was “like, being ugly to your mama.”
Dolly Parton has the best way of saying that humans should take better care of the planet.
“Well, my hope for the environment, for all things living, and all things good, just nature in general, [is] that we should pay more attention to how we’re treating our mountains, how we’re treating our world, how we’re just treating everything,” Parton said in an interview with National Geographic Travel’s Amy Alipio, published Wednesday, ahead of Earth Day on April 22. “We’re just mistreating Mother Nature. That’s, like, being ugly to your mama, you know? That’s like being disrespectful, you know? Seriously. So, I really think we all need to pay closer attention to taking better care of the things that God gave us freely and that we’re so freely messing up. We need to rethink that and do better.”
The “being ugly to your mama” line is the soundbite of the interview, but much of what Dolly said resonates. I believe that if people thought more about their footprint on the world, they’d make adjustments to treat it better. Obviously, that mostly applies to companies who need to make significant changes on every level. But it’s going about it all so “freely” that I think Dolly really has a point. And that goes back to the kids. My kids, who had markedly more environmental education in their schools than I did, constantly point out ways I cause waste. And now I can’t make that action without considering it first, so I usually don’t. Is it making a dramatic change? No. But the point is to change the mindset and that’s working. Because when Mama Earth feels disrespected, she will burn this sh* to the ground. Literally.
Which is something Dolly had to witness, recently, as wildfires raged through her state of Tennessee and threatened Dollywood. Dolly posted that she was keeping up with the progression of the fires and expressed her gratitude for the firefighters. She asked for prayers for everyone affected. This isn’t the first time she’s sent this message, either. In 2016 Dollywood was also threatened by terrible wildfires that destroyed East Tennessee. We’re about to start the first of our two major fire seasons here in California and we are in a major drought. We’re about to get are butts whooped for tickin’ off Mother N.
Photo credit: Insyagram
I wish Dolly was the boss of the world. Also, WTH Twitter?! I follow Dolly and I have not seen any of these awesome posts from her! 😡
I need a dolly to come to Portland, Oregon and tell the people to renew the contract with a non-profit for tree replanting in the east county, where the Canopy is nearly non-existing now….pretty sure we’re known for rain and trees …soooo why aren’t they replacing the missing trees?
Just wanted to add that responding to climate change does not fall solely within the responsibility of companies. My job is at a nexus of urban planning and sustainability. The reality is, we as individuals can due so much more today to lessen its impact. Driving cars, CBers, especially driving alone in those cars, is something we all must stop doing. And, yes, many of not most communities built after the broad adoption of cars makes living your life without a car virtually impossible, with huge distances between shops, schools, medical services, professional offices and residential areas, and no sidewalks connecting those areas, even if you are brave enough to try to walk. But none of this gets better unless the people who live their demand the change. Ideally, all trips under a mile would happen on foot or by bike, between 1-5 miles by bike or public transit, and only longer trips by car as a last resort—does your community have a vision for implementing that yet?
I love Dolly’s message, and I would like to challenge readers here to reorient your own travel behavior to the greatest extent you can to reduce or eliminate car travel.
I do my best environmentally – took transit/walked/shared a car with my spouse for years, we bought a house within walking distance of school, compost, buy minimally and secondhand (and sustainably as well as American made) when possible, I recycle, I cook my family’s food and have several vegetarian meals per week (and my beef is locally grown and pastured), I have a vegetable garden, I am converting my flower gardens to primarily native perennials, I do not use chemical inputs on my lawn, etc… – but this is malarkey.
I can do all the above and barely move the needle because my personal changes cannot keep up with the amount of damage that businesses (and cryptocurrencies) are doing to the earth.
If you have a lawn: kill it. Replace as much as you can with native perennials for your zone and sun exposure. We can’t fix what businesses destroy, but we can sequester carbon and make habitat for native pollinators and butterflies and birds in our yards. Doug Tallamy’s books are a great entry point for this.
I honestly have no idea why Americans are fighting about taking down statues of violent men (like confederate soldiers in the south, conquistadors where I live in the SW) when we could just all put up Dolly statues around the US and call it good. She is able to say the truth in a way that doesn’t cause division and may be the country’s only hope of unity.
I wish she would tell all her fans only to vote for friends of the environment.
But she is not that kind of lady.
She loves everyone.
I just wish she had a little more b***h in her- for the good of the earth.
Seems like she’s tilting more openly partisan as she gets older (to the good, I say). I can see her not wanting to alienate people though who might be willing to listen to her message so long as she’s not “political.”
Love her so much. Speaking words of wisdom and common sense. If only her fans would adopt the same attitude. It’s more likely that they would turn on her for it.