Celebrating Earth Day ~ Voice Of The Township
On Monday, April 22nd we celebrated Earth Day 2024. Established in 1970, Earth Day has been recognized, first in the United States and now all around the world, as the day we take stock of the condition of our planet and reflect on what we can do to keep our world healthy.
Earth Day is important for us here at Wayne Township as our trustee, Austin Knox, and all his staff are very invested in environmentalism and the responsible care of the planet. Some of those efforts include the installation of solar panels on the roof of our office building at 320 E Superior Street, the upgrade of our lighting and other utility systems to be more efficient and use less fossil fuel energy and implementing several recycling projects that have stopped thousands of pounds of waste from going into landfills. All these projects have been for saving, not only money, but wear and tear on planet earth. With pollution, global warming, and extinctions of species on the rise, everyone is feeling like more needs to be done.
You may have seen a famous image of the earth taken from space known as the Big Blue Marble. In 1972, from a distance of about 28,000 miles, the crew of Apollo 17 took one of the most famous photographs ever taken of the earth. This picture inspired many later images of the earth compiled from satellite data, and it has become an icon of the global nature of our planet.
In the fifty-two years since astronauts captured that picture, the world seems to have become a smaller and smaller place. Today news of events that are happening on the other side of the world reaches us in a matter of minutes rather than the days or weeks it used to take to hear of them. Now we hear of battles and other tragedies almost instantly through news feeds on our smartphones, computers, and televisions. This speeding-up of the news creates an overload of information that is stressful and keeps us in a steady state of tension and fear.
But there is a way to deal with this. A phrase was coined, again, back in the 70’s, that said that people should think globally, and act locally. That saying presented a way of thinking about environmental issues—that we should think about the whole earth while acting to save the planet in local activities. Over the years the idea has spread to venues other than environmentalism like town planning business and even religious efforts.
One example of acting locally is coming up on May 4th which is the City of Fort Wayne’s annual event called the Great American Cleanup. The Wayne Township Trustee Office has been participating in the Great American Cleanup for many years. This year the plan is to take our crew around the rivers near our office and beautify the area by picking up litter and debris.
Finally, we can all participate in the “Act Local” movement by taking a shopping tour of the Waynedale area. There are lots of shopping opportunities in Waynedale. And spending our money at local shops rather than at big box stores or on the internet keeps our dollars circulating within our community, building the economy and the goodwill and trust among our neighbors. That’s good for the environment and good for our mental health as well.
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