Happy Earth Day !

Today is officially the Earth Day!



Let us celebrate the Earth Day as the Day that every individual will work together in order to be able to tell the future generations that we did some thing in our time to save the mother Earth eh?



April 22nd each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement back in 1970.



Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda. " "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."






It is throuh Earth Day celebration, that we came to realize the human dimensions of antiseptic statistics. We came to see that the more than 1400 pounds of air pollution per person which rides the wind and rain across this continent is a hazard to health and life and the human spirit.
We came into knowledge that more than 50 trillion gallons of hot water, millions of tons of organic and chemical pollutants, enormous amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, and most of all, sewage every year are spoiling our rivers once celebrated in our literature and history. We came to realization that the more than 7 million automobiles, 20 million tons of paper, 48 billion cans and 26 billion bottles a year which litter our landscape means that almost nowhere on this continent can man escape the impact he has had on nature.



None of that knowledge can give us comfort. The years of awareness is over, I say. The time for action is now. No longer can we substitute slogans or symbols for solutions.



I read somewhere, Ortega y Gasset's observation: "I am myself and what is around me, and if I do not save it, it shall not save me."



The focus of Earth Day this year should be is the individual - the responsibility each of us bears to move beyond awareness to action that will return man to a balance with nature. Whether as citizen or consumer, producer or promoter, legislator, we all have a role to play, specific responsibilities to meet, if we truly wish to continue to enjoy clean air, pure water, quiet skies and streets, uncluttered countryside and a less crowded planet.



Individuals and institutions alike must realize that an untamed river is not simply a channel for barges, a source of hydropower, or a convenient sewer. Open land is something other than a potential subdivision. A forest is a heritage to be passed on to our children - not just a stand of marketable timber (Chu, take note... you are so into prices of each trees the other day!). The wilderness is more than a source of renewal and a last resort, it is yesterday untrammeled by the technology of today.



The time has come for all who value the heritage of man on this earth to back up their belief with a commitment. In our individual and corporate actions, we can make the difference between action now, or more months and years of idle talk and fearful speculation.



Earth Day this year, I believe all the elements exist for a successful solution to the problem of environmental degradation. The public in increasing numbers demonstrates awareness of the problem and support for its solution. The technology exists to control all forms of visible pollution, and research is being conducted now to fill the gaps in our knowledge. The battle is not over, nor will victory be easy or even total, but the climate is ripe for significant action.



Over and over again, we have promised ourselves solutions to these problems and we have disappointed and disillusioned ourselves when hollow lives and decaying cities could not be easily restored. The task now is to overcome the disappointments of the past as we build our common future.



If every one of us will adopt the simple truth that "I can save the earth," we will realize how much we can achieve together.