It’s Earth Day (April 22), which happens this year to coincide with he beginning of the Jewish celebration of Passover, just following the celebration of Eid, the end of Ramadan and the required fasting, a few weeks past Easter and the vernal equinox.
All of this means spiritual celebrations of renewal and nature’s cycle of renewal are in everyone’s thoughts. Migrating birds are returning with their lovely song and our souls are singing, too. With all the rain, everything is lovely and green. A beautiful green for Earth Day.
But all these holidays are also an opportunity to think about corrections we need to make. How can we make our world a place filled with more love and kindness and care for all living beings and the interconnected web of life? So many societal and governmental changes need to be made to fix global warming that it can seem overwhelming.
But there are many simple changes you can make in your own life that will help us keep our oceans blue and our lands green and teeming with wildlife.
Reduce plastics, avoid them when you can, recycle. Bring your own bag to all stores. Don’t use throwaway plastic utensils and plastic glasses. Pick up plastic trash when you see it. Demand plastic reduction. These efforts will help stop ocean and landfill pollution.
Plant your yard with native plants to attract pollinators, provide seeds for native birds and the insects they eat, and reduce your water bill. Just get rid of your lawn, or at least most of it. Don’t use pesticides. Killing one set of creatures often has a ripple effect. Using rodenticide not only kills the local mice and wood rats, but also the owls, hawks, bobcats and mountain lions that eat them. Do you really want to do that? Just use a snap trap if you must.
Killing all the insects means the birds starve for nothing to eat. According to Cornell Ornithology Lab, we have lost nearly 3 billion birds:
www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back
You can change this by creating habitat in your yard and, again, natives will help you save on your water bill.
Conserve, conserve, conserve. Turn out lights when you aren’t using them. Put on a sweater instead of the heater. Watch your water usage, especially sprinkler runoff. Let’s not lose our northern salmon runs or overpump our local water aquifers just to run overflow water down the drain.
Reduce driving, cycle or walk when possible – it’s healthier, too! Buy used when possible. Try to find a home for or donate the items you no longer use instead of just discarding them.
Talk to your neighbors about your efforts and concerns when you have the chance. Person-to-person communication is the best way to educate and help people change their habits. Sometimes folks make wrong choices just because they don’t know there are other ways of doing it that are less impactful. Can you help them be better stewards in a kindly way?
As the famous environmental activist Margaret Meade famously said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
I hope that all of you will be part of this wave that changes the world. You can do it!
Lynne Plambeck
President, Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment
Santa Clarita
