Why Emma Kay loves Earth Day

Twenty-four bulging bags of junk, a foam couch cushion, plastic garden urns and a toilet seat cover were extricated from a block-long patch of earth last weekend. The deed was done by a small group of folks ranging in age from three to nearly 60 years old.

Grimy going it was, as we lifted half-buried laundry detergent bottles, dug up aluminum cans and carefully gathered broken shards of glass. At the end, we were sweaty—and smiling.

We did it partly in celebration of Earth Day and to join the thousands of others concerned about human carelessness when it comes to littering the earth with whatever we no longer want. We did it also because we love Feenie, who lives there and looks at that landscape every day.

Perhaps most of all, we did it for Emma Kay, now one, and her sister, Joei Marie, age three, and brother, Nicholas, age six. Because we know they’re coming along after us and we’d like to leave them something a little less messed up—a planet that can still provide them with pure water, healthy soils, breathable air—and the undeniable beauty of a landscape that hasn’t been trashed before they ever got to plant their chubby little feet on it.

If not these essential things, then what can we claim to have accomplished with our own lives?

If you didn’t make it out for Earth Day to clean up your little patch of turf, there is plenty of time to do so. 364 days, in fact! In addition to the one we set aside for such attention, we can make a difference any day of the year by strolling our neighborhoods and bagging garbage that doesn’t belong there.

For certain, we can’t eliminate all the trash being tossed from cars and dumped by litterbugs. But doing nothing certainly won’t solve anything. In addition to easing the burden we place upon our planet, our actions on behalf of the Earth honor all human life that follows our own.