Celebrate Earth Day Not Decay

It was 33 years ago I was both the D.C. and national Earth Day Coordinator. Just ten years before the term “recycling” was first introduced and we in the 20^th century began to awaken to the inter-dependence of us and our beloved land, air and water. Can we celebrate our appreciation for this planet by exercising greater care in how we exist?   How can we improve our quality of life with greater resolve?  Let’s show our love for the earth by asking how we can save resources for future generations. 

Have we have seriously ignored our planet’s ability to sustain future life or helped it?  Presently we in the U.S. invest twenty percent in health care or $2.5 trillion dollars. Our world is just another extension of our greater health?  It is ironic that hundreds of trillions of dollars in other stuff while investing a tiny fraction in our very earth’s future.  In the last half decade we have double our population seriously depleting our globe’s prosperity and  impacted our planet's resources to its very brink. 

Can we invest in lessening consumption, and demand higher prices for exploiting ecosystems while being kind to the less fortunate?  For example can we invest in energy efficiency and conserve for the future.  Also can the price of some landfills reflect “bury now, pay latter”, food does not reflect the cost of transporting it vast distances or cleaning waterways that have been polluted by run-off of agro/petro chemicals. We must now fully account for all our environmental costs or pay the enormous consequences.

Thirty-three years after the first Earth Day, I feeling both optimistic and cynical.  Earth Day 2013 is a day to honor besides a day of clean-ups, educational booths, tree plantings, speeches, conversations and parades. It is a day just like every other offering us a profound experience to show gratitude for this fantastic planet. 

Earth Day is about demonstrating profound respect of our natural systems: a deep and profound connection to the natural world, the cycles of life, and the rhythms of nature.  On Earth Day 2013, let’s seriously awaken to the need for our planet's life support systems - and for us.

Earth Day is a day of wise celebrate: to stop destroying and start creating; to listen deeply as in your favorite green space; to use as few resources as possible; and teach our children that our Earth and our body are interconnected.  Finally let’s see that helping our planet is what true economic growth is all about.

Our environment is our future portfolio.  Can invest in need for clean place instead of so blinded by our material wants? Economy connotes saving our homes.  Let’s all agree that mending this place is far better than ending it's future prosperity.