Thinking Green Starts At Home

Friday, September 22, 2006

I had so many ideas for today's BLOG...wanted to write about the meaning of success...wanted to further explicate my sentiments regarding sexual ambivalence...wanted to write about the start of Rosh Hoshanah this evening.I had also wanted to discuss the alleged Republican compromise regarding the Geneva Convention. But, it was brought to my attention last night that I had been remiss regarding my neglect of green related issues. That being said...today's BLOG will be devoted to a green issue...thinking green starts at home.

We have all heard the expression..."Think globally...act locally". Truer words have never been spoken when it comes to green issues. The personal habits we develop, those same habits we teach our children, have an impact that far exceed the perimeter of our individual and separate lives. The town in which I live is a perfect example of a community that eschews the "act locally" part of the aforementioned expression. The litter strewn on roads and sidewalks, the daily trash thrown onto private lawns, the indiscriminate tossing of litter and cigarettes from moving vehicles...goes beyond the pale. This is a small town, one rich in history, small in size; yet, it conceives itself to be one in which the sense of community is important. Nonetheless, neither the citizens nor the elected officials...mayor, city council nor city planners...seem to care one whit about the face it presents to outsiders regarding it's trashiness. This also carries over into their position globally.

One can imagine the habits that youth will develop when they see their parents thoughtlessly throw trash from the car or see that the city has no interest in the rampant accrual of trash on the streets and sidewalks. Of course...they will carry this mentality into adulthood and, if they move from this community, will continue to maintain an attitude that they are entitled to throw trash anywhere they like. It is incumbent upon parents, and communities, to practice virtuous habits reagrding environmental and ecological issues because the net result is that nature and our quality of life standards will be the victims in the long run.

Habits learned early in life become the guide by which we conduct our adult lives. And, the developing attitudes we have regarding Mother Earth, the pollution she has undergone, and the global implications therein, become the policies instituted by companies and governments as we begin and conduct our professional careers. A grasp of macrocosmic/microcosmic relationships helps to connect our individual lives to our collective lives. By the same token, those relationships make abundantly clear the inherent effect local actions have on global results. Life does not exist in isolation or in a vacuum and as the world in which we live continues to metaphorically shrink, the bigger picture becomes much clearer. Pollution in Tennessee affects the ecology of Western Carolina...Pollution in the U.S. effects the ecology of Europe. No one region can take measures that may serve as insulation.

Al Gore has devoted the last 5 or 6 years to educating the world about global warming. One need only look at the declining status of glaciation , the loss of habitat by increasing numbers of species and the trend towards rising oceanic temperatures to begin to suspect that something is out of kilter. A quick perusal of government redacted scientific reports is all the evidence we need to understand the Bush Administration's penchant for revisionism. Now, more than ever, it is critical that we raise the collective conscience of public awareness and pass it on to our children and to the generations that follow them.

Ecological education starts at home and continues locally in our towns, cities and communities. It's province should be our parents, locally elected officials and company leaders. It should be ever evolving and growing and should be embraced by anyone chosen to represent us in government office. Lastly, the corporate and business world must not take precedence to environmental concerns; rather, they must be trained to make concessions on behalf of this wonderful and vibrant planet upon which we have been blessed with our lives.

"Think globally, act locally"...truer words...

trickster108