Today, April 22nd, 2010, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. What is Earth Day? A day designated world wide to honor Mother Earth, and do what we can to nurture and sustain her. This year, as in the past, work is being done at the community level to raise awareness of green issues and to make a difference in the local environment.
It is the small things that count on this day. For every person that goes to see Disneynature’s new film “Oceans” during its opening week a donation will be made to The Nature Conservancy. Through the auspices of the Nature Conservancy, individuals aer being given an opportunity to adopt a coral reef in the Bahamas to help fund ongoing work to help protect these ocean ecosystems.
The Rainforest Site offers a quick way to make a difference daily in preserving the rainforests. The Environmental Protection Agency is urging Americans to commit to five ways to green (plant a tree, recycle, compost – any five actions that we can take to green our environment).
For those that cannot get out to take an action to commit to greening, AARP has a listing entitled “Five Minute Ways To Go Green” at www.createthegood.org/gogreen. IPhone and FaceBook have an app where individuals can make a pledge to improve the environment entitled “Billion Acres of Green”. Go to www.apps.facebook.com/earthdaynetwork/.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lists 70 examples of business partners that are engaging in environmental stewardship at www.uschamber.com/bclc/earthday.htm.
Would you like to help within your own community? Check you newspaper, the local news, or your local library. Any one of these avenues will know what is being planned, and where help is needed. Or, you can simply choose to green your own yard. Clean it up, trim back overgrowth, perhaps arrange to have trees trimmed back, gutters cleaned, small paint jobs done – whatever needs to be done to bring your property back to its natural state. Perhaps you want to plant a tree, or some flowers, or clean and refill the bird bath. Any action taken honor Mother Earth, and takes you one step forward to aligning yourself with her.
Happy Earth Day!