Earth Day '08; Growth of Green Consciousness

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. William Cowper

I remember when I was 14 and wrote my big term paper on the disappearance of whooping cranes and environmental concerns regarding the mystery. It was sloughed off in importance in favor of a paper on Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland. Rachel Carson wrote about the dangers of DDT in her Silent Spring which forecast the horror of no bird songs because they would be dead. DDT was outlawed, especially when it was discovered to accumulate in human systems and poison us. That was the early 60's. When I worked on helping establish the Marine Life Sanctuaries, I went to then Rep. Leon Panetta's office to get a list of organizations that were supporting him in his legislative efforts. His secretary gave me a piece of paper with a couple of groups, mainly the Save Our Shores (SOS) group in Santa Cruz, CA. I was shocked! The Sierra Club was busy with the Redwood Forests. Greenpeace was up in San Francisco but not active at all. That was the late 80's.

A few years ago I got a call in the mail to help out focusing on the Arctic and Alaska for preventing the oil drilling there in the wilderness, and to call attention to global warming with the sad news that polar bears were drowning because the ice cap was melting. This was the early 2,000's!

Now I am active in at least 15 different groups online, signing petitions, sending emails to US Representatives, Senators, governmental bureaucrats that interfere with the preservation of our natural heritage. It is incredible growth! On television, I can watch green shows and bits on the news. My local tv station has offset its use of powers by buying up green credits.

I doubt there is a single person in the US who is not aware in some way about global warming and extinction of species. Global warming has helped raise the consciousness of everyone to the need for conservation.

Large denominations of Christians, Catholic and Protestant, have stepped forward to proclaim it is our stewardship, a God-given duty to preserve our earth!

There is nothing like changing a light bulb or taking a bus to help alleviate the anxiety of what is happening in the environment! This Earth Day, it only takes such simple steps to go in the right direction.