Our Blue Marble

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. There were many environmental problems in those days, but these problems had been building up for decades. (See this NY Times summary of our status at that time: America Before Earth Day.) Those were NOT, for many reasons, the “good old days.”

View of the whole planet changed our perspective and we started Earth Day. It was MUCH needed at that time.

What had happened the previous year, was that we had seen pictures of our beautiful planet from the moon. The Apollo Astronauts called it a "Blue Marble." That name and that vantage point from afar provided a perspective of how beautiful and fragile our only planet was. Politicians of every stripe worked at every level to put regulations in place to reverse the rampant pollution of our air, water, and land. The regulations have been amazingly effective and air, water and soil pollution has been drastically reduced. Those regulations are still needed today—maybe  more than ever because there are billions more humans all competing our planet’s resources. It is unconscionable that right-leaning politicians, at all levels of government, have been working in many ways to undo environmental regulations that have been put in place during the last two decades to clean the air and the water. 

www.climatewiselandscaping.com

It is up to us, as good stewards of our only planet, to work to elect leaders with a vision of the future for the greater good and not to benefit their biggest donors, especially those with interests in the fossil fuel industry.

It’s also our responsibility to work individually and within our community and local organizations toward a more sustainable future. To help you get started on your individual and local community efforts, Sue Reed and I have provided hundreds of easy-to-accomplish measures in our new book, “Climate-Wise Landscaping: Practical Actions for a Sustainable Future.” Our actions were chosen because they help to accomplish one or more of these 3 objectives:

1. Help your landscape survive climate change.
2. Help wildlife survive climate change.
3. Help mitigate climate change.

We are thrilled that Doug Tallamy wrote a compelling  foreword for our book. Dr. Tallamy is an outspoken entomology professor at University of Delaware, whose research has shown how important native plants are for insects, which form the basis for for balanced ecosystems. His book, Bringing Nature Home, published by Timber Press in 2009, has provided science-based reasoning for why native plants are so important.

Our Climate-Wise Landscaping book s available now at Amazon and many other locations, but for more information or to buy a signed copy directly from our website go to:   www.climatewiselandscaping.com.

Yes, climate change is a huge problem, which needs huge solutions—sooner rather than later. We can wring our hands and do nothing OR we can all do our part in our yards and in our communities. While each of our actions may not seem important, there are many millions of us who want to become better stewards of our planet and our actions taken together will be huge. So, let's get to work! Plus, we can and should elect responsible politicians who will work to preserve our only planet, our blue marble. Thanks.

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt