ESyoU can save the world

By Scott Bradley
For The Stroud Courier

As Green Peace said: Think Globally, Act Locally!

We live in a world of contradictions driven by indecisive governments trying to solve problems that they don’t really understand, or worse — that they understand but don’t want to address.

The leaders of the scientific community have been protesting man’s impact on our environment for decades and some, like Rachel Carson, have died due to the pollution that they discovered.

Our oceans are a deeper blue, belying their health because the green micro planktons are gone thus reducing the oxygenation that we require and they deliver.

It is time for each of us to stand up and be counted.

America needs to lead in the creation of a Sustainable Purpose, and we can’t do it effectively if we don’t raise our voice to confront those who foolishly think that their profit is more valuable than clean water and breathable air.

The world over 2.6 Billion people live in regions where sanitation is almost nonexistent, even more suffer from a lack of potable water.

Children die every day due to malnutrition and thirst, yet we throw away more food than it would take to feed the needy, and run our showers every morning to get them warm.

We are all part of the problem. Oh, we say we don’t mean to be, but let’s face it—we really don’t pay it much mind.

Looking close to home we see that we turn on lights in unoccupied rooms, crank up the volume so we can hear Sit-Coms while we are talking on the phone…living our waste-more, want-more 21st Century lifestyle.

We put everything in the trash, disregarding the recycle poster proudly hung in our kitchen.

Our cars spew smoke, our kids drop trash, the town uses excess fertilizer on ball fields and golf courses, and there are Bug-Be-Gone stickers everywhere.

The goal of each generation should be to ‘turn over a planet that is better than the one given us.’

Look arounnd. It isn’t happening and though more are looking to help, not enough is being accomplished.

Some say that the problem is that we don’t know where to start. Sustainability isn’t about depriving ourselves of a good life; quite the opposite.

It’s about creating a life in balance and delivering the same to the generations to follow.

Our State Administration thinks of fracking as the salvation for a slowing economy.

This short term solution isn’t the answer; the answer is the creation of new technologies to address sustainable challenges, engage alternative energy, and recreate economic success in ways that can be refined and sold as part of a successful model that creates energy, protects our environment, offers global solutions created right here at ESU and within the community around us.

Answers can come from our Biology Department, business models from our Business Department, projections for success from Economics and Math, marketing strategies and presentations from Marketing and the Arts.

We don’t have to Frack to empower the economy of North Eastern PA…but we do need to give a damn and we need to work together to promote Sustainable Solutions through campus action and community commitment.

Join ESU’s Clubs and Sustainable Committees , make this protest…your protest. Now’s your time to turn the tide.

Email Scott at:
skb209@embarqmail.com