Today is Earth Day, which started back in 1970. I well remember the growing environmental awareness movement back when I was in Junior High School and on the very first Earth Day, I participated in a clean up of the banks of the then very filthy and dirty Cuyahoga River, which bisects Kent east from west. It was an arduous job, as there was so much trash along the river banks, but the end result was the eventual creation of the Franklin Mills Riveredge Park and Brady's Leap Park, which run along the banks of the now much cleaner river. It has significantly added to the quality of life in Kent and with the recent re-routing of the river around the historic crescent dam, there is still hope of creating a whitewater park to attract canoe and kayak enthusiasts, which will help spur business downtown and make it a destination for river recreation. Already, when the river runs high after spring rains and late winter snow melt, kayakers can be regularly seen along the river shooting the rapids, so it's already become something of a destination for some folks to use our river as a recreational resource. So one day almost 40 years ago has wrought significant changes to our river and our downtown. The re-routing of the river around the old historic stone dam allowed for a heritage park and some new walkways as well. So Kent has greatly benefitted from a few of us who took it upon ourselves to make our river a resource for people to come and visit and use the river area for kayaking, canoeing, hiking and enjoying some beautiful scenery.
So Kent did something environmentally significant almost 40 years ago. But now we as a country are going to really have to step it up. We can no longer go around pretending that we can keep on going the way we have been for so long now. We can't keep hiding our heads in the sand and hoping that global warming isn't real and that if we just wish hard enough, it will go away. It won't. Not without human intervention. If we don't get on the ball now and start serious investments in clean renewable energy, we're going to lag behind the rest of the industrialized world and lose our edge and a chance to jump start new businesses that will create new jobs that will stay here in America and renew our slumping economy. There is still a great resistance to change, but that's got to stop right now. The way we did things back in the 20th century are over. This is the time for us to start anew, to create lasting clean energy jobs and businesses that will end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil from hostile regimes that can hold us hostage economically. It's not just economics anymore. It's a matter of national security. Things aren't going to settle down in the Middle East anytime soon. If anything, they'll probably get worse as time goes by, because of old prejudices and hatreds among tribes that go back thousands of years and won't end anytime soon. We cannot as a country try to force them to adopt western style democracy at gunpoint as we seem to have been trying to do in Iraq, to disastrous results. Iran has an unstable leader in Ahmadinejad and Afghanistan and Pakistan are dangerously unstable as well, as the Taliban are slowly retaking control of large swaths of those countries. We just can't be held hostage by these situations anymore. We have our own economic problems right here and the way to start solving them is to make significant investment in clean renewable energy that will restart our sagging economy, create jobs that can't be exported overseas and renew dying industrial towns like Detroit and Youngstown, which made the mistake of being one-horse towns instead of diversifying their industrial and job bases. This Earth Day, we all ought to send a powerful message to Washington that we need clean energy jobs NOW, not fifteen years from now, but NOW. Stop dithering and arguing that climate change isn't real. Stop bringing in wack-job pseudo experts to claim that God controls earth's climate (no joke - Republicans really did bring in people to testify before Congress about this!). Today of all days we need to really make our voices heard that enough is enough, that clean energy needs to happen before we've gone beyond the tipping point past where we can repair the earth.
Make a commitment yourselves to live greener, cleaner lives as well. Reuse, reduce, recycle, turn off unnecessary lights, walk or bike or take public transportation places when you can, use canvass bags at the grocery store or anytime you shop anywhere, change your lightbulbs to compact fluorescents to save energy, get rid of your gas guzzler and get a cleaner more energy efficient vehicle (I drive a 2007 Hyundai Accent hatchback, "Superior Green" rating from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy for both its good gas mileage and its being an Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle). Buy green, earth friendly products (and beware, because not all things claiming to be "green" really are. Do your research!). Shop locally and eat locally produced food. Reduce your carbon footprint whenever and wherever you can. Patronize your local farmer's markets in the summer. Promote organic farming and food production. Encourage your grocer to carry local produce and organic products (and again, not everything claiming to be "organic" really is. Once again, do your research!). Buy Fair Trade coffees, teas and other fair trade products. Stop using paper plates, plastic cutlery, styrofoam cups and other wasteful products. Keep your own coffee cup in your car and at your office. Those fast food paper cups you buy your coffee in are not recyclable, after all. Bring your own coffee cup with you to your local café if they don't offer ceramic mugs (some will give a discount on refills if you do that!). There are plenty of small ways you can make a difference by yourself. The key is to encourage your friends, family, co-workers and others to do the same. Together, we can make a cleaner, greener earth. Happy Earth Day, and remember, make EVERY day Earth Day!
Today is Earth Day, which started back in 1970. I well remember the growing environmental awareness movement back when I was in Junior High School and on the very first Earth Day, I participated in a clean up of the banks of the then very filthy and dirty Cuyahoga River, which bisects Kent east from west. It was an arduous job, as there was so much trash along the river banks, but the end result was the eventual creation of the Franklin Mills Riveredge Park and Brady's Leap Park, which run along the banks of the now much cleaner river. It has significantly added to the quality of life in Kent and with the recent re-routing of the river around the historic crescent dam, there is still hope of creating a whitewater park to attract canoe and kayak enthusiasts, which will help spur business downtown and make it a destination for river recreation. Already, when the river runs high after spring rains and late winter snow melt, kayakers can be regularly seen along the river shooting the rapids, so it's already become something of a destination for some folks to use our river as a recreational resource. So one day almost 40 years ago has wrought significant changes to our river and our downtown. The re-routing of the river around the old historic stone dam allowed for a heritage park and some new walkways as well. So Kent has greatly benefitted from a few of us who took it upon ourselves to make our river a resource for people to come and visit and use the river area for kayaking, canoeing, hiking and enjoying some beautiful scenery.
So Kent did something environmentally significant almost 40 years ago. But now we as a country are going to really have to step it up. We can no longer go around pretending that we can keep on going the way we have been for so long now. We can't keep hiding our heads in the sand and hoping that global warming isn't real and that if we just wish hard enough, it will go away. It won't. Not without human intervention. If we don't get on the ball now and start serious investments in clean renewable energy, we're going to lag behind the rest of the industrialized world and lose our edge and a chance to jump start new businesses that will create new jobs that will stay here in America and renew our slumping economy. There is still a great resistance to change, but that's got to stop right now. The way we did things back in the 20th century are over. This is the time for us to start anew, to create lasting clean energy jobs and businesses that will end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil from hostile regimes that can hold us hostage economically. It's not just economics anymore. It's a matter of national security. Things aren't going to settle down in the Middle East anytime soon. If anything, they'll probably get worse as time goes by, because of old prejudices and hatreds among tribes that go back thousands of years and won't end anytime soon. We cannot as a country try to force them to adopt western style democracy at gunpoint as we seem to have been trying to do in Iraq, to disastrous results. Iran has an unstable leader in Ahmadinejad and Afghanistan and Pakistan are dangerously unstable as well, as the Taliban are slowly retaking control of large swaths of those countries. We just can't be held hostage by these situations anymore. We have our own economic problems right here and the way to start solving them is to make significant investment in clean renewable energy that will restart our sagging economy, create jobs that can't be exported overseas and renew dying industrial towns like Detroit and Youngstown, which made the mistake of being one-horse towns instead of diversifying their industrial and job bases. This Earth Day, we all ought to send a powerful message to Washington that we need clean energy jobs NOW, not fifteen years from now, but NOW. Stop dithering and arguing that climate change isn't real. Stop bringing in wack-job pseudo experts to claim that God controls earth's climate (no joke - Republicans really did bring in people to testify before Congress about this!). Today of all days we need to really make our voices heard that enough is enough, that clean energy needs to happen before we've gone beyond the tipping point past where we can repair the earth. 
Make a commitment yourselves to live greener, cleaner lives as well. Reuse, reduce, recycle, turn off unnecessary lights, walk or bike or take public transportation places when you can, use canvass bags at the grocery store or anytime you shop anywhere, change your lightbulbs to compact fluorescents to save energy, get rid of your gas guzzler and get a cleaner more energy efficient vehicle (I drive a 2007 Hyundai Accent hatchback, "Superior Green" rating from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy for both its good gas mileage and its being an Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle). Buy green, earth friendly products (and beware, because not all things claiming to be "green" really are. Do your research!). Shop locally and eat locally produced food. Reduce your carbon footprint whenever and wherever you can. Patronize your local farmer's markets in the summer. Promote organic farming and food production. Encourage your grocer to carry local produce and organic products (and again, not everything claiming to be "organic" really is. Once again, do your research!). Buy Fair Trade coffees, teas and other fair trade products. Stop using paper plates, plastic cutlery, styrofoam cups and other wasteful products. Keep your own coffee cup in your car and at your office. Those fast food paper cups you buy your coffee in are not recyclable, after all. Bring your own coffee cup with you to your local café if they don't offer ceramic mugs (some will give a discount on refills if you do that!). There are plenty of small ways you can make a difference by yourself. The key is to encourage your friends, family, co-workers and others to do the same. Together, we can make a cleaner, greener earth. Happy Earth Day, and remember, make EVERY day Earth Day! 
1 comment:
Well Sally you pretty much covered all the bases and I couldn't agree more. I have it so discouraging the past 8 years to find the nonscience believing politicizers were put in charge of so many important federal agencies. Anyway I put a link on my other (Troutbirder II) blog from my daughter-in-law. It takes you to a carbon footpring quiz. I didn't do as well on it as I had hoped. Still it was interesting.
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