EARTH DAY SUPPLEMENTAL

            When I was a kid trying to up the number of annual gift-getting occasions, I asked my mom why, if there’s a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day, isn’t there a Children’s Day? “Because every day is Children’s Day,” she replied. “It’s the moms and dads people forget to appreciate.”

Oh.

For most of us, Earth Day, like Veterans Day, feels like that. Only on those officially sanctioned dates do we get all revved up and teary-eyed over our failures to pay attention to the planet or the people who volunteer to defend our standard of living against all comers (except the politicians: there is no defense against them save for voter-enforced term limits). But the very next morning, our lives’ business resumes as usual. We fail to toss the newspaper in the recycling bin; we buy our lattés in “disposable” plastic or styrofoam cups; we relegate the members of the armed services to their customary out-of-sight, out-of-mind status.

Well, I’m only one person, you say. What difference can I make?

Of course no single individual can solve the world’s problems. But the game-changing thing you can do—starting now—is to recycle some of the tons of waste you generate each year. What you can do is reduce the amount of frivolous driving you do. What you can do is plant a seed, or a tree. What you can do is to actually consume all the food you buy instead of consigning some to landfills. What you can do is start a compost pile. What you can do is to remember that everything you do has an impact, however tiny, on the planet and its people. What you can do is to look, really look, around you, and remember how interdependent we all are.  

The moms, the dads, the veterans, the earth need your awareness that they’re out there, waiting for you to see, and acknowledge, and understand how we all connect. The most important thing you can do is to pay attention. And that makes all the difference in the world.

Another thing you can do is click on this link for ten tips for reusing plastic bags, because every little bit helps.

Thanks for dropping by.

                                                                        Kathy