...do something green

Next Thursday, April 22, Earth Day will ask us to take the environment personally.  The first Earth Day happened in 1970, after a campaign by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson for a national day of action to draw attention to pollution problems.  From its modest beginnings, the idea has grown and spread.  This year, sponsors estimate that a billion people in more than 170 countries will observe Earth Day.  Nothing else attracts that kind of audience except religious holidays and the World Cup final.

Earth Day’s most important purpose is education.  Events like fairs and exhibitions, art and essay contests and film screenings make people more aware of environmental challenges like climate change, pollution and deforestation.  They also spread information about useful solutions like clean energy, organic food production and recycling.  They can lead to useful political action.  When a billion voters turn out in support of a single idea, governments pay attention.

The Marine Park Trust’s Earth Day observations concentrate on schools.  Student groups take part in shoreline cleanups and attend presentations on marine life, the threats it faces, and why it’s important to save what’s left and grow more.  The presentations are illustrated by tours of Montego Bay’s reefs or the Bogue Lagoon.  If we teach the children well, they will make sure their parents do the right thing.

Earth Day also involves useful work.  All over the world, people will turn out to plant trees and gardens, clean beaches and streambeds, and set up composting and recycling facilities.  For those who need more than one day, or can’t take Thursday off, April 17 and 18 (this Saturday and Sunday) have been named Global Days of Service.  On these days, we can all do at least one “personal act of green” – anything that conserves, protects or restores the earth’s resources.  It can be a big thing, like installing a solar water heater, or a small one, like turning off lights and fans when we’re not using them.  Everything counts, especially if we tell our friends.

There are small things we can all do, that taken together will make a big difference.  The list could include:
•    Replace bulbs with energy-saving fluorescents;
•    Use ceiling fans more and air conditioning less;
•    Plant a fruit tree and a vegetable garden;
•    Use boxes, baskets, and string or cloth bags for shopping instead of accepting plastic, and urge more supermarkets and pharmacies to sell string or cloth bags.

Even simpler – go to your yard, or the nearest gully or roadside, or your favourite park or beach.  Pick up one small bag of trash, and put it in a bin.  Earth Day reminds us that “the environment” isn’t just endangered species and national parks.  It starts in our houses and our yards.  A million personal acts of green – especially if these good deeds become good habits -- will make Jamaica a cleaner, safer, more beautiful place.