Happy Earth Day

Happy 40th Anniversary.

It was 40 years ago this year, I imagine you've heard, that we started this "Earth Day", when the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Ohio.

Thank goodness that doesn't happen anymore.

But that sewer we call Brush Creek--and a whole lot more like them--are all over the country and we're not taking care of them.

And then there is what China is doing to that whole quarter of the planet.

I think pages and pages can be written, right now, on what we can and should do to better treat our planet--and so, ourselves--so we're not polluting or damaging it and doing damage, then, to ourselves.

I'll only mention a couple, here, now:

First, I think it's obvious we need to stop poisoning our world with the chemicals and pesticides we've been using so heavily and with such ugly, damaging results (in spite of what Monsanto and the chemical companies say).

Between the fish kills, the "dead zone" out in the Gulf of Mexico and the die-off of so many millions of bees worldwide, it seems obvious we're poisoning the world we need in order to survive.

The second thing we ought to do, it seems clear, is to stop "mountaintop removal" that the coal companies are using to get their coal ever so much cheaper.

"Mountaintop removal."

How could anyone, anywhere claim that this "mountainto removal" is anything but horribly damaging to the riverways and entire area surrounding what was removed and damaged?

It's indefensible.

We need to push our representatives in Washington and everywhere we can to stop this and as soon as possible.

I think it should be one of the things at the top of our list this Earth Day, 2010.

Now, go recycle some paper, cans, plastics and more today and pick up some trash.

Let's celebrate Earth Day this year and make this a better place to be.