Earth Day! And Why it Makes Me Sad.

"Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents.
It is loaned to you by your children."
~ Kenyan proverb

WARNING: This post may get a little preachy, and I might come out looking like a hippie.

I could cry today, because I'm so frustrated with people and how they treat this planet. Moreso, I'm frustrated by people's apathy.

We live in a rural area on a main street, and one that many a fisherman makes his home-away-from-home when he needs to "get away from it all."

We also have two trailer parks on our street. One is mostly home to retirees, and as a result it is tidy and kempt. The other is your stereotypical trailer park, full of trailer trash, both figuratively and literally. I spent seven years delivering papers there twice a week, and I went to elementary and high school with many of the children that live there, so I've seen it all firsthand. One Saturday morning I witnessed young children playing in their front yard, which was littered with aftermath from the previous night's party: dozens of beer cans and porn mags. I'm not kidding.

And we're the main street that 20- and 30-somethings use to get to Stave Lake, home to the mud flats and off-roading trails, and often a dumping ground for stolen vehicles.

So as a result of the types of people that frequent our street, its shoulders and ditches are home to styrofoam bait containers, chocolate bar wrappers, pop cans, beer cans, countless cigarette butts and packages, and trash from most fast-food restaurants, especially Tim Horton's.

It's also a dumping ground for large things, for those too cheap or too lazy to properly dispose of them. I just called Mission Public Works to have them pick up the double-size futon that's been laying on the side of the road for well over a week now. There are countless garbage bags filled with dirt - a lovely gift from the grow-ops in the neighbourhood - and apparently one fisherman went home pantsless after he tore a hole in his and left them for someone else to deal with.

So this morning, as I was feeling all lovey dovey about the Earth, I picked up a heavy-duty garbage collection bag and one of those sweet robot arm garbage-picker-upper things from my neighbour (the neighbourhood used to share in weekly garbage pickups) and set off with Jack in tow. In less than half a kilometre my bag was so full and heavy that one of the handles broke. I also came home disheartened, because my bag can't hold the paint cans and plant pots that I had to leave behind.

So with all of this, you'd expect we live in a pretty rough, ugly neighbourhood, right?

Wrong. I took this just now, standing in my front yard.

I'd hate to see how people treat a place that isn't this beautiful.

I also get frustrated with people's lack of motivation to actually do anything more than just say "Happy Earth Day!" Words don't undo pollution, or automatically sort your recyclables from your compostables from your garbage, or plant trees, or pick up garbage that thoughtless others have tossed out their window.


Usually I hate the expression "if you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem," but it's days like today that it couldn't ring any truer.

So I'm happy to report that today I'm part of the solution. I've resolved to make today a car-free day, in efforts to reduce my carbon emissions. Instead of turning up the heat in the house because it's cold, I'm going to layer up. I'm planning on not creating any garbage today; all the waste I produce will either be recyclable or compostable. And I walked down the street to pick up free-range organic eggs from our neighbours' farm today for my good-for-the-environment lunch.

Happy Earth Day! Do something good for the environment please.