Today and over the weekend, across this region and throughout this county, thousands and thousands will celebrate Earth Day, paying homage to this beautiful planet, taking to the streets and the rivers for massive cleanups and generally feeling good about themselves.
Will the vandals who burned down the playground in Adams last week, spewing nasty, toxic smoke into the air and spoiling many a youngster’s fun, be among them? Or the so-called outdoorsmen whose empty worm cartons, tangled fishing lines and Budweiser cans litter the Deerfield and the Housatonic and the shores of every one of our lakes and ponds? Or the owners of the factories of the Midwest, whose smog continues to blow across our skies, bringing us nasty air, acid rain and mercury-contaminated fish?
Will they join the hordes of celebrants, perhaps filling a few plastic bags with old McDonald containers, discarded cigarette butts and unlucky lottery tickets? Pull out a few abandoned, rusty shopping carts from the waters beneath bridges and overpasses? Recycle their paper and glass?
Does anyone find it ironic that Earth Day falls during the same week the U.S. Commission on Oceans has issued a report affirming that our oceans are in deep trouble, unable to sustain their ecosystems because the people of our planet continue to use them as dumping grounds, while overharvesting their treasures? Meanwhile, even the so-called environmentalists argue whether to erect wind turbines designed to reduce our reliance on polluting fossil fuels. The production of hybrid, solar-powered or electric cars remains at a standstill. We continue to ponder whether to dredge up or pave over our legacy of PCBs and wonder just where the heck to put our thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods so they won’t kill anyone over the next 50 million years. And the icecaps melt and the ozone layer deteriorates.
Satirist Tom Lehrer had it right more than 30 years ago, in his song “Pollution.â€
“If you visit American city, you will find it very pretty. Only two things of which you must beware: Don’t drink the water and don’t breathe the air.â€
The Clean Air Act has been sabotaged. The Clean Water Act can’t be enforced. Across the nation, many of our fine citizens have shown daily that they just don’t give a hoot. They can always turn on the air conditioning or buy bottled water; put on more sun block to halt those ever-increasing ultraviolet rays. They might grumble a bit, but they fill the tanks of their SUVs with gas at $2 a gallon. They continue to toss their old batteries and light bulbs right into the trash _ some even throw their old mattresses and furniture, demolition debris and household garbage into the woods or over riverbanks.
Today and through the weekend, many idealists, dedicated volunteers and heroes among us will go out and try to clean it up. They should be congratulated. They should be celebrated. So should the work in classrooms across the country, where teachers lead our children who have inherited this Earth in a host of activities designed to make them more aware of the environment and how to protect it.
But so far they are shouting into the wind. Earth Day is not enough. Nor is Earth Weekend or Earth Week. To get out of the fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, we need an Earth Year. Every year.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant
Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building.
"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu.
A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building.
White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.
He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns.
Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot.
A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use.
Cassidy Flynn scattered five hits in a complete-game effort in the circle as Lenox upset top-seeded Hoosac Valley, 3-2, in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament. click for more
Brayden Durant struck out seven and walked one in a complete-game effort on the mound Saturday to pitch the Drury baseball team to a 6-0 win over Keefe Tech in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament at Joe Wolfe Field. click for more
Jason Codey struck out 13, walked two and allowed just an infield single as the Generals earned a 7-1 win over Wahconah to claim their third straight regional title. click for more
Gracelyn Wright struck out eight, and Genevieve Lagess went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in as the Hurricanes beat Monson, 17-3, to claim their first Western Mass title in four years. click for more
For the boys, Ward Bianchi helped lead the way with a win in the shot put and a second place in the javelin as the Mounties finished 16 points ahead of runner-up Pittsfield (pending the results of the pole vault, which were unavailable at 11 p.m. Friday night). click for more
