From Livestock & Field Crops IPM Extension Area Educator KEN WISE:
What I remember the most of Earth Day is when I taught high school forestry and fishery. On Earth Day, we would plant several acres of Douglas fir seedlings or release salmon in rivers with my students in the Cascade Mountains. We would grow our own seedlings and had a built our salmon hatchery.
Earth day for me is an everyday state of mind. My work in a small way I hope helps sustain the land.
From Community IPM Extension Area Educator MATT FRYE:
In grad school I coordinated an annual trash removal project in our woodlot, and prior to that I helped with tree plantings. But it’s been a few years, so this is more of a reflective thought on Earth Day…
Earth Day for me is a reminder. It’s a day to slow down. To take a deep breath. To experience and admire the wonders that this world has to offer. Equally, it’s a call to action. For if we fail to nurture and actively protect them, someday those wonders may be but a memory.
From Ornamentals IPM Coordinator BETSY LAMB:
To me, it is the power of people coming together for a cause. And sometimes even people on apparently opposite sides of an issue who see that environmental improvements actually have benefits for both sides.
It is easy now to say that it is just a meaningless ‘holiday’ but we need to be reminded of how far we have actually come and what some of the changes have been and are. Like some other issues, the changes have become the expected norm – which is perhaps a victory in itself. And that is not to say that there are no longer challenges. There certainly are – and some new voices pointing them out and encouraging new responses. Hope, frustration, action, and change!
From Program Administrator AMANDA GRACE:
Each year, we plant a tree with the boys to celebrate Earth day. We try our best to educate and raise awareness, especially to our future generation(s), on the importance of unity and coming together to protect and nourish our global home.
“if you want a child’s mind to grow, You must plant the seed.”
Happy Earth day!
From Community IPM Educator LYNN BRABAND:
Here is a photo of my participation in the first Earth Day as a sophomore in community college. I am at the red arrow. I was one of the organizers of the day’s activities in that municipality. Personally, the event was part of a journey that I was already on.
Tomorrow, we’ll be sharing a few more thoughts on the significance of Earth Day. Thank you to Jennifer Grant and Joellen Lampman for helping to pull this post together!