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"Every day is Earth Day to a Pagan," quipped our recent podcast guest, Amanda Marie Parker, aka Belle Be Damned. The latter moniker is her burlesque stage name in the Houston-based troupe, Bewitched Burlesque. A creative brainchild of Parker and Jessica Anderson of the Thorn and Moon Magical Market, they are now performing socially safe, in-person shows after launching virtually a year ago* in the wake of the pandemic. Parker also performs in Houston with Strange Bird Immersive, which recently a shout-out from The New York Times. Strange Bird Immersive includes Bradley Winkler, who acts with them and also handles some sound design, PR, and marketing. A longtime actor and friend of mine, Bradley and I met in the Boulevard Theatre community here in Milwaukee. He was the one who had the foresight to introduce Amanda and I for a podcast chat.

 What Can We Do?

Amanda has a point about Earth Day that is easy to forget. We should be mindfully living with reverence for Mother Earth each day with gentle and kind intent. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be here after all! Whether it's keeping up with our recycling, using non-toxic products in our food purchases and lawn care, carpooling, biking, and hoofing it whenever possible, or making a point to clean up trash in our local waterways and parks, there are so many ways we can help. Make no mistake, it's never too late to make a difference and if enough of us do, it can still make enough of an impact to heal some of what we've wreaked over time. We owe it to the young people in our lives that we cherish, as well as the animals, trees, and all of earth's living creatures dependent on her intricate ecosystem.

An Excerpt From the Futuristic Paranormal Novel I wrote and published as an e-book, in 2013.

FORWARD:

Trans people in Mexico turn to a local folk saint for patronage. Experts debunk the idea that stress doesn't affect people of color. And Costa Rica's Savegre River obtains protection from UNESCO. It's Fiery Tuesday, our segment about societal and political news from around the globe! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

How much do you know about global warming? A look at the peculiar phenomenon of collective misremembering. And a profile of the EPA's new agency head. It's Earthy Thursday, our segment about science and Earth-related news. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Indigenous peoples of the far north struggle to preserve their way of life as the climate warms. A massive radio burst from the depth of space offers clues to the nature of the universe. And military leaders urge President Donald Trump to take the issue of global warming seriously. It's Earthy Thursday, our segment on science and Earth-related news. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Iceland preps for a new renewable energy project. A look at how "green roofs" are taking over the world's cities. And just how big is the newly discovered planet orbiting our nearest stellar neighbor? It's Earthy Thursday, our weekly segment on science and Earth-related news. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

I've been following the events on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where hundreds (if not thousands) have gathered to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL for short) for the better part of two months, though I've been dimly aware of the issue since last spring. As a native South Dakotan transplanted to Texas, I still follow news outlets from my beloved prairies, including several independent Native news agencies. When I started sharing posts about the growing camps of protectors -- community members prefer this term to protestors -- I was shocked and amazed when friends told me that my Facebook feed was the only place they were hearing about the situation. (The 1,172 mile pipeline, which will carry oil from North Dakota's Bakkan region, crosses the Missouri River in a number of places, threatening the only source of drinking water for many indigenous communities. Construction also threatens burial grounds and other culturally important sites for the Standing Rock Sioux. For a quick primer on the situation, go here and here.)

I've been heartened to see that the Pagan community has spoken out about the DAPL and has offered support to the protectors at Standing Rock. While I understand that many Pagans "don't like to be political," there is no question in my mind that we have a duty to stand with indigenous peoples everywhere, and in particular with Native American/First Nations peoples. For Pagans in the United States and Canada (and elsewhere in the Americas), the very land on which we stand and which we purport to venerate is the same land (and water, and air) threatened by the DAPL and projects like it. The environmental stakes alone should give us reason to stand up and say #NoDAPL and to support those seeking to prevent the "black snake" from being built across the nation's prairie heartland, from North Dakota all the way to Illinois. As earth-venerating people, I believe that it is incumbent upon us to stand up against environmental degradation -- as Al Gore famously said in Earth in the Balance, Paganism is the spiritual arm of the environmental movement.