A Lighter View
Saving the earth
By K.E.H. Stagg

April 23, 2009

This week, Americans celebrate both Earth Day and Arbor Day, although “celebrate” may be a bit too strong a word; we “observe” it. Okay, we know there’s a day dedicated to saving the planet and now that Pluto’s been officially drummed off the list, we can’t take anything for granted anymore.

The rest of us are just glad for shade trees, although we’re far happier when someone else has to maneuver around them when they’re sticking up in the middle of the yard, lying in wait for unsuspecting lawn mower blades.

But I think most of us in Dillsburg are happy to reforest “from sea to shining sea” by planting our tiny twigs. We are also conscientious enough to help prevent clogging our landfills with plastic grocery sacks by reusing cloth grocery bags, or sorting glass and plastic containers for recycling.

Global warming is attributed to, among other things, chemicals that damage the ozone, such as hair spray propellants. Frankly, if a person is willing to use a product that will catch his or her hair on fire, it’s not surprising that they’re none too worried about what it does to the environment! Nor will those of us working with individuals who have terrible B.O. be willing for them to forego deodorants to preserve the Earth. How effective are those Earth-friendly deodorizers anyhow? And what benefit is there in saving the planet, only for all of us to expire from inhaling noxious odors?

What surprises me is that with all the virtualization available these days, no one has yet devised a scheme whereby you can specify a tree to be planted in a rainforest or a bit of polar ice to be frozen in honor of a family member or friend. I know someone must have thought of it, but is probably bogged down by logistics and bureaucratic red tape. You can personalize a star, after all. Admittedly it’s a lot easier to name a star six bazillion miles away for Great Aunt Lucy because the star is long dead so there’s no ownership issue. Even if the star had been owned by an actual person, which I don’t for one minute believe to be the case. On the other hand, persuading a government to allow forest preservation hasn’t proven all that successful so far so planting trees in someone’s name probably isn’t feasible.

In addition to the town’s mascot, Dillsburg can give new meaning to “green” living by supporting pickle planting on every patch of ground in the Dillsburg area. You may laugh, but it’s a start. Eventually, we endorse pickle planting worldwide. I like to think of it as “one small step for Dillsburg, one giant step for greening the globe.”