ECONNECTIONS
Earth Day
by Karen Dusek

It is appropriate that April, the first full month of spring, was the month selected to designate an Earth Day. Sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic changes in the land and the organisms that inhabit it take place in this magical month. The whole world stretches luxuriously as it awakens from its long winter nap. Hibernators leave their burrows, nests and other resting places. Migrators begin to return home. Tightly wrapped buds slowly start to unfold in the sun's lengthening rays. And love is in the air as the work of creating new generations to ensure species survival begins.

Earth Day focuses our attention on the world around us as hikes, neighborhood clean-ups and festivals beckon us outside and remind us that we can't continue to take from the earth without giving something back in return. We can't expect to breathe clean air, drink pure water or eat healthy foods if we continue to dump pollutants willy-nilly, strip the land of trees and make unwise choices about our use of fossil fuels and other gifts the earth has bestowed upon us. It sometimes takes a concerted effort on our part to think about the impacts that our every activity has on the environment. But often just a small change in behavior will substantially lessen those impacts. A case in point…

I live in a modest apartment. A distance of about four feet separates me from a small house next door. A couple of weeks ago a young couple moved into the house. Every morning, without fail, the young man starts up their truck and lets it idle between 10 and 15 minutes before driving to work. One morning, I did some mental math and figured out that, if he continues, the total amount of time the truck will spend idling in the coming year will equal about 60 to 90 hours. That's a whole lot of fuel that will be used to go nowhere.

Various people over the years have told me that it's important to warm up a car before taking it on the road. Then someone said no, exactly the opposite is true. So, I went online and found, on the Chicago Sun Times Web site, an auto maintenance question and answer page. Lo and behold, one of the questions was, "How long should you warm up an engine before winter driving?" The answer was, "A car shouldn't idle for more than 15 to 30 seconds in any season, especially if it's fuel-injected," unless it's pulling a heavy load, in which case it should be warmed up for about five minutes.

I had also heard that it takes more fuel to stop and start an engine than to let it idle during a long wait, such as when there's an accident or road construction. Wrong again. According to the Web site, "a car engine shouldn't be left idling unnecessarily for more than a minute."

By simply not turning the key, my neighbor will be reducing emissions, reducing his fuel consumption (and saving money), extending the life of his vehicle and improving his relationship with his neighbor. I am now wondering why this type of information isn't included in driving test manuals. Shouldn't drivers be expected to take responsibility for all of their actions behind the wheel, including taking steps to reduce gas consumption and emissions?

Thoughts of Earth Day elicit thoughts about what a small, complicated place the world is now, making it ever more difficult to live a simple life. We are constantly reminded that if we do not own the newest, the biggest, the best of everything on the market then we are somehow inferior to those that do. But there is a price to be paid for constantly "upgrading" and it extends far beyond the cost of the item. Every time we don't resist the urge to buy, every time we choose to purchase new rather than repair what we already have or replace it with a used model; every time we throw something away instead of recycling it, we are forgetting that we cannot continue taking from the earth without giving back.

I am reminded of the words attributed to a Cree Indian in the 18th century: "Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money." In such a world, we would, perhaps, die from joylessness before we died from a lack of food.

We have designated April 22 as the day that we give back to the earth, but one day out of 365 is simply not enough. "Make every day earth day," some pundit penned. Clever words, but what do they really mean for most people? It is time to elevate those words beyond the status of a catchy phrase to a way of life. Yes, it does matter when you don't let your car idle. And it matters when you buy only what you need and when you repair your lawn mower and mend your clothes and use the library or buy used books instead of new ones. It matters when you turn the thermostat down to 68 degrees or lower and turn off the lights when you leave a room. It matters when you garden organically and wash your clothes in cold water using phosphate-free laundry soap. It matters that you send letters to your members of congress and tell senders of junk mail to remove your name from their lists and speak up when you see something out of whack. Everything you do matters.

By all means, celebrate Earth Day. It is, after all, spring, the time of awakening. Perhaps this will be the year that we awaken to the fact that we would not be alive without this good, generous, giving earth to support us and take the pledge to protect what we have and restore what we have destroyed.

Happy Earth Day-every day.

You may email Karen at karen@lakeshoreguardian.com.