April is Earth Month and the 22nd of April is the dedicated day of the year to focus on planet Earth. The beautifully hued blue planet.

With that in mind, we wanted to show two photographs that speak volumes about our environment; the juxtaposition of images illustrates in a simple microcosmos what’s happening to the earth. During the winter, when the trees are bare and dormant, awaiting the arrival of Spring to show their true colors we notice how chocked full of plastic they are, especially in large cities like NY. It’s a sad sight. When the winds are strong the plastic breaks free of its constriction and is caught on tree branches – and eventually all the way into the oceans.

One feels for the trees and imagines having some sort of superpower to climb them and free them from the “invasive species” that are strangling their branches. But realistically, we can’t do that, can we? Climb every tree we see on the streets to liberate it from the unsightly man-made product?

Most of the plastic we see on trees is plastic deconstructed from either single-use plastic bags ; from the grocery store or possibly from industrial-grade plastic used in construction sites. Other times it may be from eighteen-wheelers transporting construction wood or heavy equipment or industrial-grade plastic wrap used to encase pallets that hold cardboard boxes on truck beds.

We can prevent this by being more self-aware of how we discard our waste. We could carry our own grocery bags. If we stop expecting or demanding plastic bags at the grocery store, they will stop offering them to us – a direct relationship. It’s important to advocate for systemic change by contacting companies and elected officials to urge them to prioritize sustainability and reduce our plastic use. We can all do our part to protect the planet and leave a healthier world for future generations. During this euphoria of spring may we also take a moment to appreciate the beauty of nature, like the Magnolia tree, and work to protect it.

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