Save the Planet? Light One Candle

As a child I wanted to save the planet, but the problems seemed so large, so many.  I am one of ten children and my father attempted to calm me by telling me not to try to save the entire world, but instead to light one candle.  I was too young to understand the wisdom of that advice. But now I do.  In modern parlance it is “Think globally.  Act locally.”

The problems of the environmental crisis seem sometimes overwhelming.  It’s easy to tune out.  To give up. Please don’t! Never before has it been so important for each person to ask: What can I do, right here, right now, to make a difference? How can I help?

Each book I write is my way of lighting one candle.  I use my books to bring awareness to the beauty, fragility, and threats facing our planet.  It started with THE BEACH HOUSE (Book 1 in the The Beach House Series).  In this novel I shared my love of loggerhead sea turtles and my experiences as a member of the Island Turtle Team in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  I’m still a “turtle lady” today, and loggerheads will always be my first love in the Lowcountry wildlife.

Since then, I’ve lit candles for monarch butterflies (THE BUTTERFLY’S DAUGHTER), the native sweetgrass plant,(SWEETGRASS), wild American shrimp (LAST LIGHT OVER CAROLINA), Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Lowcountry Summer Series), mountain trout (TIME IS A RIVER) and migrating shorebirds (BEACH HOUSE FOR RENT) to name a few.

We all have the power to light one candle.  It doesn’t have to be a big project to make a positive difference in our world.  If  you recycle today, you lit one candle.  If you stop using plastic straws, you lit one candle.  If you turned off the lights of your house, you lit one candle.  Put all our lights together and we can create a powerful beam of enlightenment that will help preserve the diverse beauty of our planet for generations!

On that note, I’m kicking off a fun campaign with my readers. #LightOneCandle.  Each week on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages, I’ll highlight people I know who are lighting a candle. But, I want to hear from you too. What can YOU do you do to light one candle? 

Each week I will select one reader’s suggestion to highlight and will offer her/his choice of one of my books as a thank you. 

Share your thoughts, photos or videos and please include the hashtag #lightonecandle.   I hope this will be a fun and inspiring conversation. Together, we will be illuminating!

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