Earth Day - And Beyond

April 22 is coming in a week. There are events, new items, and other information on how to celebrate, how to help, things individuals, companies and other groups can do. Pick up trash. Sponsor a teaching experience, Cut down on plastic use.

Be responsible. This means don't pick flowers. Don't harass wildlife. Don't hike across sensitive environments. The old scout adage: Take only photographs, leave only footprints, to which I add - footprints only on existing trails. Since the pandemic, the numbers of irresponsible persons who want to "get outside" and "experience nature' has resulted in increasing degradation of that very outdoor nature they want to enjoy.

Stop.. Look. Listen. THINK.. Environmental destruction, particularly here in the arid West, lasts for generations. You can still find the foundation scars of old mining towns from more than one hundred and fifty years ago in the desert. Nature does not heal easily in the West.

To that end, here is something positive you can do for the Earth on and beyond Earth Day.. Advocate. It can be as simple as signing a petition to save open space, create reserves, designate protected areas.

It's much easier to preserve it than to restore it. The more we save now, the less we have to rescue later.