Love the Planet

Earth Day

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”

John Muir

Today is both Earth Day, and the national March for Science. I have never seen people in America more politically active. There will be a march in Birmingham, home of a world-class medical center, and the Southern Research Institute, both of which participate in on-going medical and scientific research through the National Institutes of Health, and will stand to lose a fortune in matching dollars if some of the new administration's policies go through. On the macro-level, planet Earth needs help, and on the micro level, it's up to each of us to do our part.

I heard a conversation on National Public Radio yesterday about how much garbage American's create—28 billion pounds of food waste alone per year. Americans make up 5% of the earth's population and create 30% of the world's garbage—one million pounds of material per person per year. Most of our garbage goes into land fills either here or elsewhere in the world, and generates methane gasses and other toxic waste that adversely affects the quality of both our air and water supplies. Since the Environmental Protection Agency is being gutted, we must take matters into our own hands. That means it's up to you and me to reduce, reuse, and recycle. There is simply no excuse for doing otherwise.

I hope that today you will plant something green. Think twice about throwing away anything that can be used by someone else, or reused by you. Less than 2% of the total waste stream in the United States is recycled—surely we can do better than that. As the Native American proverb says, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” We love our kids, and I know we want to leave this earth better than we found it for their sake. On this Earth Day, and every other day, let us rise to the occasion and serve both ourselves and future generations by becoming conscious and responsible for how we use Earth's resources.

                                                                       In the Spirit,

                                                                          Jane