Thoughts on Earth Day.

I would likely be cast out if I frequented places where tree huggers dwell.

That being said, having grown up in the sixties in a VERY rural place, I know how to live in symbiotic relationship with nature. And I remember the childhood ads and programs created to educate us to environmental awareness...please please don't be a litterbug, for every litter bit hurts. I remember the ad with Iron Eyes Cody shedding a tear.

We made good use of everything and waste was not an issue. Today I have returned to the same county I grew up in and the sights are appalling- young people make a habit of making the landscape their garbage dump. I thought the next generation was green! Not so here. There is no recycling program in Bullitt County, and that's the first time that has been the case in my married life- Memphis, Dallas, and Illinois had recycling programs. Try to find a magazine recycling bin here and you are out of luck. Families have 4, 5, 6 cars and gas guzzlers galore. Fast food is the order of the day, and I get enough junk mail each week to half fill our waste container.

I believe in cycles of climate change- climate based on thirty year cycles. I'm not yet on the global warming bandwagon, but it doesn't take a genius to recognize things are still going horribly wrong in the area of personal environmental stewardship. Education has not helped; it is human laziness and arrogance that makes the mess I see daily. Fast food wrappers, beer cans, cigarette butts. The county just dredged the river and removed tons of debris from where it's been used as a dump. Driving along a lazy country road here gives you a view like a landfill with mattresses and garbage. It is sickening.