This is me.

In costume, ready to participate in a local parade around Earth Day, in the early 90’s. I remember wanting to hold the branches of the weigela shrub and potted tree placed next to me, as though we were a team. I remember this more than the actual parade. I also remember how long it took to colour in the Earth’s continents with a green marker. I remember who took this photo and helped me make this costume. I remember the metal coat hanger bent around my head, hidden under my hat, holding the two signs on either side of my head which read “HELP SAVE EARTH”. I remember this jacket was too big for me, but it was green, and I wanted to look like the earth and help the trees. The carboard circles supporting the Earth’s continents bend down the center, as we try to secure the earth around my body. The garbage bag was likely a practical costuming choice at the time, but the symbolism is uncanny, given the plastic crisis of our oceans today. Did we know thirty years ago, the oceans would be full of a varying assortment of decaying plastics, or have we only come to know this? This part of the costume still exists, in a landfill where I used to live, as another trace of the Anthropocene. As my children grew, they reminded me of when I was passionately willing to parade myself down rural streets in a garbage bag and cardboard cut-outs to help save the earth. I had not completely forgotten, but the same urgency I once felt, was buried under unanswered appeals and the burden of mature understanding. One day, I cared as much as you do. Then I forgot how. Thank you for helping me remember.