{"id":231,"date":"2008-04-17T15:10:56","date_gmt":"2008-04-17T15:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2008\/04\/17\/hudson-hopeful-as-earth-day-approaches\/"},"modified":"2008-04-17T15:10:56","modified_gmt":"2008-04-17T15:10:56","slug":"hudson-hopeful-as-earth-day-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2008\/04\/17\/hudson-hopeful-as-earth-day-approaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Hudson Hopeful as Earth Day Approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Jim Amidon<\/em> \u2014 Marc Hudson has a voice like a summer wind. Not a breeze, but a warm, strong, and sometimes gusty wind. In Chapel Thursday, his voice moved from whispery softness when describing emerging spring ephemerals to gale force when quoting the poetry of Ezra Pound.<\/p>\n

When he finished his Chapel Talk previewing Earth Day and honoring Wabash\u2019s naturalists, I sat for a moment wondering how much I\u2019d pay just to hear him read the newspaper \u2014 strong, vibrant gusts of headlines and the steady breeze of the body copy.<\/p>\n

An English professor and the College\u2019s resident poet, Hudson spoke of place. \u201cA few years ago, Helen and I decided that this place \u2014 Crawfordsville \u2014 is the place we will live out the remainder of our lives.\u201d At the heart of this place, he said, is the Chapel.<\/p>\n

His take on Earth Day was amazingly hopeful and upbeat. Instead of lecturing on and on about emissions, carbon footprints, and the harm we do the Earth every day, Hudson honored the College\u2019s past and looked to the future with hope and promise.<\/p>\n

Hudson had fond memories of his former colleague, Robert Petty, who taught biology, but was easily as well known as a poet and naturalist. \u201cHis poetry grew from this local soil,\u201d Hudson recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarth Day is a celebration of the health of our planet and its biodiversity,\u201d Hudson said, noting that we can begin that celebration by simply paying attention the natural beauty around us. He spoke of the Petty Patch in the Fuller Arboretum, the spot that honors Bob Petty\u2019s love for and knowledge of all things natural.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we approach Earth Day, we must understand that human action can have an important impact,\u201d said Hudson. As an example, he pointed out the important and groundbreaking work of Biology Professor David Krohne, who has co-founded the NICHES land trust, which today protects 21 natural places comprising more than 2,000 acres.<\/p>\n

\"\"Student Nathan Rutz, he said, and the group Students for Sustainability, did a great service by bringing attention to and helping our community understand the brutal impact of mountain top removal in the Appalachia mining industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also mindful of the good work of Bon Appetit for purchasing food locally,\u201d Hudson said, noting the food service company\u2019s commitment to local providers. He also said he believes plans are in the works for a meatless Earth Day as a way to bring attention to the disproportionately high resources it takes to get meat to market.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo eat your sprouts and be merry,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a green tradition here at Wabash College. But as I look around at other liberal arts colleges, I realize that we can perhaps do things differently, do things better,\u201d Hudson said. He discussed Colorado College\u2019s recent audit of energy consumption and emissions, along with St. Olaf College\u2019s wind turbine that now provides one-third of the institution\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n

Hudson also told the story of poet Ezra Pound, whom he described as \u201ca difficult poet\u201d and a \u201cdifficult and angry man.\u201d Hudson said that while Pound was held in prison for treason near Pisa, he produced some of his strongest poems. \u201cThey register a kind of pathos and humility that is rare in Pound\u2019s work\u2026 In these poems, Pound becomes a naturalist; he looks closely at the natural world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLearn of the green world and know thy place,\u201d Hudson said forcefully \u2014 like a gale \u2014 quoting Pound.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to take a new path \u2014 we have to \u2014 but we can be hopeful as we do it,\u201d said Hudson about becoming a greener society. He suggested to the students, faculty, and staff in attendance that they celebrate Earth Day by taking a hike in Shades State Park or Pine Hills Nature Preserve or even a stroll through the arboretum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat ever you decide to do on Earth Day, just pause for a moment\u2026 and be hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Hudson\u2019s breath-of-fresh-air take on Earth Day and the College\u2019s role in being good stewards of the environment concluded with a lovely quote from Thoreau:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Amidon \u2014 Marc Hudson has a voice like a summer wind. Not a breeze, but a warm, strong, and sometimes gusty wind. In Chapel Thursday, his voice moved from whispery softness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}