Don’t be a torpid, sluggish mind, indifferent about the environment, about others, and about goodness. We’ve been donating a lot, over the years, to all of the Hurricane victims (both to charities for humans and for dogs), including (recently) Dorian. These hurricanes are worsening over the years due to global warming. I see some bloggers who claim to love nature, yet they travel — in jets and planes that spew out tons of pollutants — to distant countries or far distant places to get “great nature photos.” I’ve been unfollowing such hypocritical behavior blogs. I’m not afraid of devils or goblins around Halloween. I’m more concerned about people who treat the earth wrongly, indifferently. We all can do more to help nature; we all could do less harmful things. Please watch the following Greta Thunberg video. I feel very sorry for kids these days; if things do not change, they — because of the increase in carbon dioxide — will not be able to breathe properly in a few short decades. 30% of all birds in North America (alone) have gone extinct in the last 50 years; they are the canaries in the coal mine, but most adults just don’t see it enough.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Your photo is toadally cool! If my local Walmart hired him as greeter, I might start shopping there more often!
Well, Linda, you certainly have an appreciation for nature’s creatures that a lot of people do not have. That’s cool! 🙂 (Not that the typical Walmart greeters aren’t creatures of nature.) 🙂
Thank you for sharing Greta.
Yes, CC. It’s a damn, crying shame, isn’t it, that young children have to plead for a clean, livable environment?!
I had never listened to that talk all the way through before. Thank you for including it Tom.
Oh I love toads – they are gorgeous!
Yes, Sara, i love them a lot too! I admired them as a little kid and i still continue to fondly admire them! 🙂
Thanks, Peter. 🙂 I have tears in my eyes as this is being typed, due to realizing the dire seriousness of the situation.
We just seem incapable of taking it seriously, too complacent and cosy in our comfortable lives!
Yes, Peter, exactly! Apathy/indifference
You are a fine example of “walk your talk”, Tom! Thank you for posting Greta’s Ted Talk. I just started reading RIP GOP by Stanley Greenberg. His analysis gives me hope.
Thank you much, Lindy. (The toad photo was taken in our backyard, which nullified the need to travel; i realize though that some reasonable traveling for pictures, and such, may often be required.) I sure hope things turn around for the better, environmentally. 🙂
Let’s hope that people will finally smarten up. Sweet shot too!
Yes, but it’s taking too long.
Thanks regarding Toady! 🙂
Thank you for sharing Greta’s video, Tom, I too sheepishly admit I had not seen it before in its entirety. I fear especially for my grandboys (8, 3, 2) when I will be long gone. 😢
On a happier note, very cool toad! Look at all the colors, and I love those gold eyes!
Greta has been nominated to possibly win the Nobel Peace Prize; if she wins, she will be the youngest person to have ever received that honor. It’s horrible that children have to be pleading for their future to be bright.
Thanks regarding the cute toad. 🙂 He was photographed in our yard… so no traveling was involved.
Greta is telling it like it is – shame on everyone who has not paid attention until now. With our toad friend as the Walmart greeter, it will keep those errant flies at bay … now to find something for those occasional sparrows that get in the store and fly around.
Like i told Donna, above, Greta has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and can possibly receive that great honor. How very sad that young children have to be pleading with us about their future. And the current ugly U.S. Administration is solidly sticking with the fossil-fuel industry (to keep their pockets lined with $). What a damn joke!
I love the flying sparrows at the local Menards store. My parents once bought a house on Long Lake in Michigan; the people who owned it had indoor “pet” squirrels and all of the woodwork in the house was chewed up. My father renovated it. 🙂
That’s interesting Tom – I never knew anyone who kept a squirrel inside without being caged … it would be like any other pet, especially when squirrels or birds are raised from very young due to injury or folks finding them fallen out of their nests. Those critters could not and would not want to return to the wild so it is logical to stay with their adoptive family. I see sparrows in our Meijer, and read not long ago that they have special pest removal services that come in with netting to trap them without harming them. I can see it happening at a Lowes or Menards as the outside connects to the inside with a sliding door.
I never got to see the squirrels but i did see how they gnawed all of the framings around the doors, etc. It was a sight to behold. I once visited some people who let their pet parrots do the same kind of thing. 🙂
You are so right, Tom. We do need to be aware of our carbon footprint and seek to reduce it. Plenty of nature in our own backyards. I love finding “Pennies from Heaven” in my rambles in the meadow below my house. I used to find lots of frogs there, but lately not so much. So sad to see their decline.
Reducing our carbon footprint is very important.
Laurie, I’ve been chasing and admiring frogs, snakes, and insects for many decades. I see a marked decline in all of them. People will finally wake up when it’s too late. But nature, fortunately, is very resilient.
Yes, there is enough nature in our own backyards… or locally. 🙂
Love toads too
Yes, great, Chocoviv! 🙂 I always saw them as awesome and wonderful! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the Greta talk! I so admire her courage to speak out about the ingrained and misguided fossil industry way of life. I hope that enough young people will start to vote these greedy politicians out of office! The Washington Post recently had a sad and depressing article on the decline of North American birds. I’ve noticed changes here at home with bird visitors, but I’ve yet to see even one frog this year. I used to see them all the time when I was outside. There were also a lot fewer bees than in years past! 😢
When i was a kid, Sabine, our backyards were filled with tons of bees; they were everywhere. Now you just occasionally see one now and then. Frogs, like birds, are the canaries in the coal mine. Yes, Greta’s courage! What a wonderful, caring, intelligent young girl! Our youth need to do a lot more; they need to rally together in big numbers and let the world know that enough is enough. Yes, they need to vote! Yes, many politicians are bought and paid for by the diabolical fossil-fuel industry and by the NRA. Not waking up to this nonsense will cause the world of humanity to quickly come to an end. This is not a test. It is the real deal.
🙂