The Sage Creative

In 1970, amidst a burgeoning environmental movement in the United States, Earth Day was born. The US had invaded Vietnam and young people were protesting across the country, Rachel Carson had published "Silent Spring" and sold half a million copies world wide, and Americans were becoming more aware of the negative impacts of industry and war on their beloved ecosystems. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin (D), spurred by a devastating oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, envisioned a day dedicated to raising awareness about environmental issues. On April 22nd of that year, millions of people across the nation took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. This collective action sparked a wave of environmental consciousness, leading to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of landmark environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Now, more than five deca...

Hi friend, Are you as happy as I am that spring is in the air? Spring is my favorite time of year. I love how the long winter gives way to renewal, growth, and warm change. It's also the perfect time to reflect on our personal habits and how we can do things better than last year. This includes consumption habits and embracing a more eco-conscious lifestyle. Springtime symbolizes renewal, growth, and transformation, making it an ideal moment to reconsider how our choices impact the planet. We can use this time to spring clean our spaces and old habits for new ones that more closely align with our current values, such as adorning our walls with nature-loving eco-friendly art. "Sunrise Over Flatirons" Eco-Friendly Watercolor Painting So, what exactly is eco-friendly art? It's a movement that prioritizes environmental responsibility at every stage of the artistic process. From the materials used to the packaging for shipment, eco-friendly art embodies a commitment to r...

Last week we celebrated World Water Day. So, this past weekend, Nate and I watched the 1995 film Waterworld with Kevin Costner and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Have you seen it? The whole time I was glued to the TV and taken by how the PG-13 movie captured some of my biggest fears for Earth's future. (Learn more about eco-anxiety here .) If you haven't seen it, humanity does something that causes the icecaps to melt and inundate all habitable land and freshwater becomes scarce. As you can imagine, chaos ensues. I won't say anything else other than, this film gets R-E-A-L. You can see the progressive loss of land and then the Earth completely inundated, setting the scene for the Waterworld movie. As a water resources professional in my career, the value of water, especially freshwater, is something I live every day. Water is life. So today we honor the one thing that makes Earth unique in our universe, habitable to life, and astoundingly beautiful from space. Measuring flow on St. Vr...

A fellow friend and environmentalist recently wrote me: " Some of my friends (and me, if I'm being real) have been feeling depressed and hopeless about the state of the world and how badly we and our ancestors are harming Earth and other sentients..." Her words hit home. It's something I've felt for a long time. Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and sometimes, if you don't catch them soon enough, they turn into dangerous apathy.  In psychology, they have a term for it, a term that was never needed until our generation: eco-anxiety .  The American Psychological Association  has defined eco-anxiety (also known as eco distress and climate-anxiety) as "the chronic fear of environmental cataclysm that comes from observing the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concern for one's future and that of next generations".  Extensive studies have been done on ecological anxiety since 2007. It's no surprise that, while ...

Hey friend, Each winter, we try to take a trip somewhere warm to break up the long cold of winter. Two weeks ago, we were in Panama trying to catch whale sharks and eagle rays on their migration down the Pacific Coast. Unfortunately, they were over 3 weeks late because climate change is altering the timing of warm currents that their food source (krill) travel on. Though we tried, we didn't see them. "Whale Shark Fingerprint" by Jenny McCarty In the delicate dance of life on Earth, humans play a pivotal role as stewards of the environment. Yet, our actions have led to a crisis of unprecedented proportions, with ecosystems unraveling, species disappearing, and climate patterns shifting. Now, more than ever, the planet needs us to embrace sustainability as a guiding principle for our collective future. The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated. Our planet is facing a myriad of interconnected environmental challenges, from deforestation and pollution to loss of biodi...

When was the last time you tried something for six months? Did you paint, try a new exercise regimen, diet, or meditate? Today, I want to talk about a game-changer: dedicating yourself wholeheartedly to something creative for a solid six months. Yes, you read that right—six months of committing to your craft can lead to remarkable transformations you never thought possible. Six months ago, I started painting daily. I was completely burnt out and had been told by a career coach that the quickest way to combat burnout is to spend more time in flow. Who knew? I had always been able to find flow easily while painting, so I started painting again after taking nearly 10 years off to grow a science career. I committed to painting daily for 30 days, then 65 to reestablish my creative habit. (Research shows it takes 60-65 days to really establish a new habit). While I don’t paint daily anymore, I paint several times a week, and look back on the last 6 months with wonder. So much has changed s...