Happy Earth Day!

Today is a very important day. It is the day we honor our planet and actually pay it the attention we need to pay it.

I have not always been concerned with the planet or thought of it much. I took it for granted for a very long time, but as I look around on the news and my own environment, I see extreme wildfires in places that didn’t get them before, or that didn’t get them as bad, snow in places that never had it much before, and no snow in places like where I live where we uses to be covered in feet of it, places are getting flooded with a year’s worth of rain in one storm, Animals are changing their migration patterns, and all kinds of other stuff is showing me how important taking care of the earth is.

That’s not to say everything is bad as far as the environment goes. There was a large hole in the ozone layer from all the aresol cans that eventually healed, young people are taking up the fight for economic justice, and there are entire organizations dedicated to things like planting trees, like One Tree Planted, which has planted over a hundred million trees as of last year (I use them myself).

It is easy to see all of the bad and think there is nothing we can do to improve things, but we must remember that there is still hope in the fight for the Earth. Good things are happening every day, and we shouldn’t let the bad deter us away from trying to do good. Sadly, it’s not enough to just recycle and buy eco-friendly products like I used to think. Definitely keep doing those things because they help, but it is extremely important to also work together in a non-partisan way on a larger scale like working to change business practices to be more kind to the earth even if it means the businesses take a bit less profit.

I know this is all very easy to say and harder to do, but it can be done. You just have to find a way to help that speaks to you and that you’re passionate about. For me, that means that from today on, I’m going to pit more effort into reaching out to legislators and connecting with the Citizens Climate Lobby chapter that I am a part of.

However you celebrate Earth day and however you decide to show gratitude to the Earth for being our home, just make sure to care for yourself first because you can’t pour from an empty cup. Thank you for sticking around this long, those of you that have, and I’ll see you again next time.