One Thing You Can Do...

I am posting this late on Sunday night because I have a n early and long day tomorrow. I have just a short message. Get involved in something that can make a difference. I am a tree hugger of the first rank and have been for a long time. From the very first Earthday through Silent Spring, through Nuclear Freeze, the Bottle Bills and Global Warming, I grew up with the environmental era. I decided long ago that I could march, I could protest, I could give money, I could support candidates and I could write letters. I was not sure that all of that was making more than a marginal difference. It seemed to me that it made the most sense to go where the power is. For me that was politics and land use issues, at the local level. What will eat up the pretty green valley where I live is farm land and forest land moving through subdivision and into suburbs and industrial parks. Sitting on local planning, zoning , and inland wetland commissions is not sexy work. It is long term, it requires a view that can deal with individual actions in the context of a larger town wide and regional picture. It is a minutiae driven work requiring an understanding of regulations, law and its applications. To do it well takes time, takes effort, and takes patience to bring an environmental perspective to and economic venue. And yet, that is where the power is, and made it all worth it. The preservation of habitat or at least the smartest destruction of habitat is one of the things that you can have a role in.

Act locally with a global commitment, you will make a difference.