Fifty-one years ago, U.S. President Richard Nixon signed an order recognizing April 22 as Earth Day and that announcement became an international rallying point. In most years, the newspaper will have photos of our youth picking up the refuse that has blown across their fields or in their immediate neighbourhood. The newspaper has accompanied classes to the lower river as young students have scampered along the shoreline picking up all kinds of garbage. We will not see those pictures this year.
Earth Day began as a grassroots movement, with people from all walks of life going out and working to make their neighbourhoods more attractive by picking up garbage, and planting trees. Demonstrations were held to remove toxic chemicals from being used on our lawns that made their way into creeks and streams, hurting traditional species of fish, wildlife, and plants.
Sunday night I was scrolling through Facebook and Cindy Kreger Homer posted three photos of a young lady, gathering up three bags of garbage from the ditches of Eighth Street. It must have taken a lot of time and work. It was a wonderful statement that even the youngest of us can work to protect our Earth. Perhaps youth have a better understanding about the future health of our planet than older generations.
In this year of Covid, with lockdowns and restricted movement from our homes, nothing can prevent us from taking a garbage bag on our exercise walks and picking up any trash and garbage we discover. We can walk the shoreline along the rivers and valleys of our communities. We can follow the lead of that young lady.
As the weather improves, we can go to the greenhouses and purchase trees and plant them in our yards. They will provide shade in summer and absorb moisture from large rainstorms, reducing the community’s storm drainage flow into the creeks and rivers. The trees will provide much needed habitat for birds, butterflies, and other insects, dependent on their food sources. The shade will reduce our energy consumption in the summer.
We can encourage the community to begin an aggressive tree planting program, making our community more attractive and inviting, not only at the entrances to our community but also throughout the community.
Cities like Calgary in Alberta and Guelph in Ontario collect separately garbage, organic waste, paper products and yard waste. Homeowners separate it before it goes out to the street. The organic household waste and yard waste go into large composting fields and is eventually sold back as compost.
In this year of Covid lockdown, could the Town of Fort Frances arrange for pickup of yard waste? We can each do our part. We can take the lead from that young girl who picked up three trash bags of garbage along Eighth Street.
Jim Cumming
Former publisher
Fort Frances Times
