“What Can I Do?”: Spaceship Earth

Kim Hightower


Spaceship Earth Presents Laurie Dameron, but in technical terms, Laurie will be presenting Spaceship Earth. It’s just that Earth created Laurie, and now Laurie wants to protect Earth. And I find that beautiful. She works feverishly toward protecting the planet that provides us all with life and natural beauty, and she travels as much as she can to share her musical and photographic environmental stewardship piece. She is an inspiration and a model to live by, and I have had merely one phone conversation with her. I think everyone, after talking with or meeting Laurie, will feel grateful that there are people like her living among us. She is putting her whole soul into saving the planet that she calls home, and is slowly getting the rest of us to join her.

Recycling is where it begins, and Laurie strives to make it simple, alluring, and important – universally, across the board, for every citizen of Earth, every single day. Laurie combines her musical talents with beautiful images taken by renowned photographers and friends to create captivating, inspiring shows that display our earth’s beauty and tout recycling and minimalism. She is an altruist, a steward of our planet, trying to get everyone else on the same page.

People are confused by recycling, as trivial and obvious as the process may seem to some. There is a world of information out there, and it needs to be concrete and simplified. People need to be able to incorporate recycling and minimizing waste into their lives, every day, all day long. Many are either overwhelmed by all of the information on recycling or don’t have time or motivation to review the rules and protocols, making their values part of their routine. Laurie says this is the root of the problem. It’s not that people don’t care; it’s that many need a boost of inspiration, and perhaps a daily reminder or a more obvious call to routine.

Laurie’s platform is a “fun and easy way to be inspired.” This is why she is determined to travel to sustainably-minded communities in the West and share her ideas on the importance of recycling and of making changes in our systems to get everyone on the bandwagon.  “Spaceship Earth,” she says, “is, in a nutshell, about mindfulness.”  And mindfulness, she muses, has become something of a buzzword in some places, and I agree as we talk on. People can talk about sustainable energy while holding plastic water cups and paper coffee cups, sitting inside a café where reusable dishes are available. This scene Laurie recently witnessed is something we see every day, but it means something bigger. It is an idea we connected upon during our conversation, a metaphor for what is. She recognizes that people care and that people are mindful, but we all need to be the highest level of mindful; we need to walk the walk, every day, all day long.  

Laurie Dameron is a musical environmental steward. She will give her presentation, “What Can I Do?”: Spaceship Earth on September 22, 2015 at the Bozeman Public Library at 6:30pm.

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