Is it spring? It feels like it. Normally, here in Minnesota we’d still be slogging through the snow. Usually, we would see a snowstorm in April. If this were a normal winter, we would call the balmy temperatures ‘false spring’. There is nothing normal or usual about the extreme weather we are experiencing; it is surreal and frightening.

And for just today I want to revel in the returning bird songs, find delight in the blooming snowdrops and budding pussy willows, turn my face towards the warmth of the sun and ground myself in the promise that is spring. This promise that we will move through the darkness of winter, the incubating of life, and come to this time of rebirth and renewal.

Spring is the season of hope. The daylight hours lengthen and the landscape slowly turns green. As journalist Doug Larson once said, “Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.”

So let’s turn that whistle into a song that demands love for all living things, a song that calls us to take action for climate justice. What will you do this balmy March, in spite of the slush in your shoe, to ensure we have a just future on this planet? It’s a great time to start some tomato or pepper seeds in a sunny window for transplanting outdoors after the last frost; growing your own food is an excellent way to break free from our carbon heavy food system. Take advantage of the warmer temperatures and get an early start on your environmentally friendly commuting strategies and bike or take public transportation to work. Join one of the many neighborhood clean up efforts scheduled for April.

Let us spring together into a better world.

Susan Phillips
Executive Director

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Springing Into Hope