Blues and greens swirl on the page and around a young girl who shares her love for her river. The river cools her in the summer, holds her up when she dives in, and takes takes care of her as she takes care of it. While rivers around the world are being threatened, polluted, and dammed, Maya Christina Gonzalez's book, I Know the River Loves Me, is a tribute to the relationship people, and especially children, continue to have with their rivers.

(Lu Guang, www.smithfund.org)Over 70% of China's rivers and lakes and 90% of its groundwater are polluted. In addition, large dams often gather wastewater discharge from nearby factories and farms in a toxic soup behind their gates, further exacerbating the environmental and human health crisis.

I heard a beautiful story recently. It was a story about a young girl, a refugee from a war-torn country in the Middle East, who was able to create something beautiful in the midst of destruction and poverty. Tearing out pieces of magazines collected here and there, she created a collage, which eventually found it's way to Berkeley, California, and into the hands of the staff at River of Words.

River of Words is a non-profit dedicated to improving the environmental and art literacy of children in the US and abroad. Every year, they host a poetry and art contest, which draws hundreds of participants from places as different as Iran, Hong Kong, and Georgia. What these contestants share is a love of and appreciation for the natural world. 

How about Earth Day everyday? (http://www.earthday.ca/pub/merchandise/calendar/index.html)

Normally, my experience with the hoopla surrounding national and international days of commemoration–Black History Month (US), World AIDS Day, International Women's Day, etc.–is tempered by a good dose of caution (except for our own International Day of Action for Rivers of course).