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Earth Matters: Reflections on Earth Day at 50

Happy Day, Mother Earth! … Okay, today may not exactly be joyous (what day is it anymore?), but it is momentous: Earth Day is 50. To celebrate half century of awareness of all issues green, community members are sharing their thoughts on a diverse range of environmental topics, including air quality, the urgency of climate change, recycling, fossil fuel  divestiture and electric cars; expressing their appreciation for the natural world, frustration at governments’ responses, and ideas for making the Earth a better place.

Nyack News And Views thanks Nyack 2030 and the Nyack Library for their outreach to create Earth Matters‘ coverage of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

Earth Day 100 is Counting on Us

This Earth Day, facing another sort of “silent spring,” I’m naturally falling back on old practices of my childhood: waiting for a sunny day to do the laundry so that it can hang out on the line; sweeping the floors with a broom for daily cleanups, between vacuumings; not wasting a scrap of food.

We’re all in the same boat, right? Wrong. A lot of folks’ boats are sinking fast. If you can keep paying your cleaning person or regular babysitter, at least for a while, do so. Pick a local feeding program to help with whatever you can spare, even if it’s just a few bucks.

And our national health emergency has provided cover for the Trump Administration to further demolish our environmental protections. If you can’t keep up with all your usual donations and memberships to environmental and climate-protection organizations, pick one and help out as best you can. Earth Day 100 is counting on us.–Susan Hellauer, Earth Matters Founding Columnist