Happy Belated Earth Day!  What, if anything, did you do to promote or recognize Earth Day yesterday?  Did you plant or recycle something, go for a hike, limit your water usage, or not do anything at all to recognize Earth Day?  I’m sure for most of you Earth Day briefly crossed your mind when you saw a retail sale mention it or heard about it on the news, but you didn’t plan a specific activity for Earth Day.  I’m hoping by next year Earth Day will have a new meaning for the residents of Bridgeport and everyone will have at least learned a little something about what we can do to practice some type of conservation in our great City of Bridgeport!

           

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, and was founded by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the devastating effects of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.   This first Earth Day “achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders; and led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered SpeciesActs” (quoted from www.earthday.org, visit the website to learn more).  Earth Day has become a day for everyone to celebrate our wonderful planet and all it has to offer in its most natural form.  Earth Day broadens the term “environment” and brings together several different groups/agendas aimed at promoting the issues which affect our health and our communities.  www.earthday.org/about-earth-day-network.

           

Even if you didn’t acknowledge Earth Day yesterday, I hope that on some level you are concerned about the Earth or the environment in which you live.  The purpose of my blog – Conservation Station – will be to promote the environment of our community through conservation.  Conservation is a term that means to protect from waste or overuse and usually refers to the Earth’s natural resources.  Conservation is referred to in many different arenas (i.e. water, electricity, land, wildlife, etc.), but every aspect of conservation generally has the overall objective of improving health and/or the community.  My goals for blogging are to help raise awareness for issues in conservation facing our community and to stimulate action by our citizens; to highlight organizations, businesses, persons, or programs in our community working to promote conservation; and, to provide ideas/practices for conservation to the citizens for the betterment of our community.   So stay tuned for what’s to come as I am positive that something, if not everything I write about will make you think about the environment and provide you with a whole new perspective for Earth Day 2013!