THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
I Know a Valley
Green With Corn:
A Critique and Explication of Byron Herbert Reece's Poem
As I write this column early in
the morning
of April 22, I realize this is the day declared "Earth Day"
throughout
I like the slogan, "Every day is
Earth
Day." Indeed, we cannot just practice good earth-saving techniques one
day
a year. We must be vigilant at all times about what we can do to help
revitalize earth and its resources.
To gain a little perspective on
Earth Day,
how it came to be set, and its significance, a little history of the
day is in
order.
The April 22 date came about in
this way.
The United Nations and
affiliated nations
observe another day as Earth Day. This Earth Day uses the Spring
Equinox
(around March 20) when the sun is directly above the Earth's equator.
John
McConnell at a United Nations Conference on the environment introduced
the idea
in 1969. The proclamation declaring the Spring Equinox as Earth Day
throughout
the world was signed on
Some of the legislation enacted
since Earth
Day began in 1970 have been formation of the Environmental Protection
Agency,
the Clean Air Act, and the drive to recycle materials.
Several years before the
movement to
establish Earth Day, Rachel Carson introduced us to the dangers of not
caring
for earth's environment. In Silent
Spring 2 (1962) she wrote: "The history of life on earth has
been
a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.
To a
large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth's
vegetation and
its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the
whole span
of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies
its
surroundings, has been relatively slight. Only within the moment of
time
represented by the present century has one species acquired significant
power
to alter the nature of his world."
And, as we must admit the "one
species" who alters the nature of his world is mankind. With our greed,
inattention to the cycles of nature, overextending the soil and its
nutrients,
using water resources for our own necessities and pleasure, harvesting
forests
for expansive building and other technological uses, along with many
other
non-conserving measures that could be mentioned, man has brought the
environment to its present precarious stage. In 1897 Russian writer
Anton
Chekhov wrote: "There are fewer and fewer forests, the rivers are
drying
up, the game birds are becoming extinct, the climate is ruined, and
every day
the earth is becoming poorer and more hideous." He does not paint a
pretty
picture of Earth and its resources. But he wrote that a century and a
decade
ago. Think of the changes that have occurred since then.
What can we, individual
citizens, do? Is
the problem so big that whatever effort we try to do will be only an
infinitely
minute and ineffective action? Considering such, we might say, "Why
bother?" But I suggest to you that we can become more aware of the
problem. With knowing often comes action. Regardless of your political
persuasion, former Vice-President Al Gore has tried to wake us up
through his
book An Inconvenient Truth
(2006) to global warming and what we can do about it. Alan Weisman has
written
a provocative analysis in his The
World Without Us (2007).
We can also resolve to recycle
those items
recyclable. We can beware of measures to conserve water. We must not
litter.
Our roadways are veritable trash barrels for some who scatter waste
along them.
Shame on us. We can attend to emission controls on automobiles to
prevent toxic
fumes from escaping. We can clean up, spruce up, beautify. Our world is
still a
beautiful place. It is still an awesome sight to look to our beautiful
mountains and see the sun dissipate the morning mists. Everyday is
Earth Day.
Let us celebrate!
Updated August 10,
2009
Back To Union County, Georgia GenWeb Site