Earth Day: A day that has no voice

by Dustin Woods
Contributing Writer

Each year, April 22–Earth Day - is the day that we reflect on the importance of environmental protection. Though it is not elevated to the status of national holiday it focuses on an issue even moreimportant than our great nation - protecting this lonely little rock upon which we all live.

This statement may seem outlandish to some but having been born into the last name of Woods, I have always been predisposed to an affinity for trees. As an admitted and unashamed bleeding-heart liberal and a natural born tree hugger, I come wired to have great admiration for Mother Nature and the myriad of species and habitats that exist.

So, I find it confounding when I encounter people who are more concerned about money and profit and less concerned about the life that is all around us. There is a great scene in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth where Al Gore shows an image of a classic set of scales where on the one side is a stack of gold bars and on the other side is the entire Earth. To me it is absurd to think that you can possibly weigh profit in relation to existence.

Now, in April 2017, we are at a crucial time when it comes to protecting the natural world that gives every single one of us the life we enjoy so much. Global climate change is a reality and with the Antarctic melting and temperatures continuing to rise we will be seeing a rising sea level that completely remakes the coast.

According to NASA, in the last 137 years the sea level has risen eight inches, but in the next 83 years it is expected to rise another one to four feet. We've gone beyond the point of no return, the damage is done. The question now becomes how far into the red zone are we willing to take this pale blue dot hurtling through space.

A species of bumble bee has been moved to the endangered species list by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Ask yourself when is the last time you've seen a horny toad, the horned lizard I grew up finding in the wild but my nieces have only seen at the zoo.

Remember gray squirrels? I don't, but my mom tells me they used to be all over our family’s preferred campground at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The signs may be subtle and the changes occur over decades but we have seen the degradation and eventual loss of species in our lifetimes.

Ocean species are contending with a floating island of plastic that to many of those species resembles food. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration doesn't call them garbage patches, but they say there is a higher accumulation of trash circling in the currents of the Pacific Ocean.

This problem is a case of inactivity to the point of laziness for not disposing of these items in a more environmentally friendly way and should be easy to change. Do we not have the will power to stop throwing trash into the ocean?

The technologies exist to address the problems our great Gaia faces, all except a device that can convince the humans who have the position of Earth's steward to actually perform their duty with fidelity. And so I put forth the challenge to utilize your freedom of assembly to join with those who are also concerned about environmental protection to be a voice for something which has no voice: nature.

When those in power have decided that commerce is more important that creatures, profits more important than plants, cash more important than clean air and water then it is time to stand up and speak with a unifying voice in defense of the entire habitat that is our earth.

This voice needs to be like a chorus of cicadas on a summer evening, insistent upon the attention of anyone that hears it never seeming to end until the long dark night breaks due to the dawn of a new day.

Find an Earth Day event near you and lend your voice to the chorus calling for a cleaner habitat for all species.

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Copyright The Gayly - 4/22/2017 @ 8:55 a.m. CST