Keeping Our Earth Beautiful

Keeping Our Earth Beautiful

"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, diseases, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods, but he cannot save them from fools." John Muir

I’m a big believer in keeping our planet livable and beautiful by doing my part. I mulch and plant my garden using organic seeds. I plant trees to replace the ones that have died at my home and around our community. I recycle and buy green supplies that are getting easier to find in stores.

My grandchildren also learn how to do their part. On Earth Day, their class went out to pick up any debris found along the roadsides, and they even seeded more wildflowers. They are taught never to pick the ones already growing. Why? (1) These flowering plants produce breathable oxygen for all of us by utilizing the carbon dioxide produced by plants and animals as they respire— Where plants and animals exchange gases with their environment. (2) Flowering plants also help purify water and prevent erosion as their roots hold the soil in place. (3) Their foliage buffers the impact of rain; plus, the water cycle depends on these plants to restore moisture to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, these plants depend on pollinators to reproduce, so a much-needed healthy atmosphere is needed for these beneficial insects to do their part, or they will become extinct.

If you enjoy traveling and visiting all the scenic areas throughout the world, we must do our part to keep it beautiful, and safe. You’d think other people would want to do the same because we must take better care of what God has made. Some of us just plain don’t care, and this carelessness can create polluted lakes and rivers. I think John McConnell, founder, and creator of Earth Day, must have observed this, too, and thought he would bring our attention back to what is important for all of us. He hoped to change our ways, and want to keep Earth beautiful, too.

So, for John McConnell to bring our attention back to keeping our earth beautiful, in 1969, he reached out to as many people as he could, using these successful marketing tools such as television and radio, where he could relate to what was happening to our planet. He proposed a global holiday in celebration of Earth's life and beauty— Earth Day was born.

Nowadays, the word has been steadily getting out to 141 countries, and it’s mobilizing 200 million people to lift the status of environmental issues onto the world stage, creating a mass movement of people wanting to do their part by making everyone aware of what is happening. Why is there smog in certain cities that you have to wear a mask just to go outside? Teaching everyone why this is happening gets them motivated to do their part.

Disney always has been big on nature, showing the beauty of the earth in so many of their movies, and teaching the children through animation. I do worry about our children, though; what kind of Earth will they inherit? We already know about the many seas that are turning into acidic cesspools where even the whales have fled from the area. The rainforest will become just a distant memory if nothing's done to stop its destruction. Human greed has plundered Mother Earth’s resources such as coal, and oil, and the dangers of fracking for gases inside rocks; which in turn, contaminates the water supply that people drink. It boggles the mind when they know what they are doing is unhealthy, but they still do it anyway.

This is the message that I wanted to get out to everyone. All I can do is my share, and hope others will follow suit. My dream is for the lakes and rivers to have that vivid blue color once again, where we can see the bottom, to have no more smog that makes it hard to breathe, and for cars should run on something else instead of gas. Shouldn't we have flying cars by now? I have the feeling they have the technology, but the gas companies won't let it out.

There are so many things that can be done to improve our way of living; sometimes I think the Native Americans are the only ones who know how to live off the land and not make a mess out of it. I wonder what John McConnell would think now if he were alive today. Would he be proud of us? He started with such high hopes in 1969 by creating Earth Day, maybe one day all the people will realize what they're doing, and join in on making our beautiful planet livable and free of all pollutants.

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