Begin by reading Paul Hawken’s commencement address to the University of Portland’s class of 2009, printed in the Jan. 3 issue of The Seattle Times. It’s online. Read it, and feel inspired.

Here’s one thing he tells the grads:

“You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring. The earth couldn’t afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night-blooming jasmine and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here’s the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do want needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.”

Then make some pledges for 2010. Even modest ones matter. Here are a few that come to mind, modest and not:

Bring a bag next time you visit KVI Beach. It’s in desperate need of some cleanup crews. Consider it a gift to a beach that gives us Islanders so much.

Clean up after the dog, even when walking in the deep woods. Our aquifer doesn’t need those extra nitrates.

Ride your bike or take the bus or walk on your next trip to the grocery store. Easy for some, damn hard for others. But good for the earth.

Find a group on Vashon that’s doing good work, and join them, at least occasionally, in their efforts. Consider pulling invasive weeds at a nature preserve or working with the Interfaith Council to support Islanders in need of a helping hand.

Become a beach naturalist.

Have your septic system inspected.

Turn off the TV, go outside and look at the stars.

Learn the names of the birds that hop in your garden and serenade you each spring.

Visit Mukai Pond in the winter, spring, summer and fall, and marvel at its changes.

Buy vegetables from your local farmer.

Grow your own.

Hawken said: “What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote: ‘So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.’ There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world.”

Do what you can to reconstitute the world: Ride the bus. Clean the beach. Help the homeless. Take in the startling beauty of this place we call home.

Make 2010 a year that marks a new beginning.