A little more earth-minded

The past few weeks have been filled with journey after journey - I travelled to Philly for my last regatta in the US for a while with some good friends and teammates; I've moved back home, or at least my stuff has; I've travelled to DC with my mom and dad to see this nation's capital city at its height... independence day; and I've travelled to Chicago with my parents to see my sister and brother-in-law and to visit one of my favorite US cities for the last time before I take off for Doha.

Tomorrow, I start a new journey. I'll drive the 7-hour, 400-mile trip to Sugar Grove, VA to be a part of the Konarock Trail Crew towards the beutification and betterment of the Appalachain Trail in that region. The aim is to make available some of the greatest wilderness East of the Mississippi while at the same time protecting it so that generations to come can enjoy it just as much as hikers today. I had signed up to do this way back in January (in fact I'd planned on going out for 4 weeks, but my trip to Doha cut that down to 2), but I've found my thoughts and my emotions turning ever-nearer towards issues of the environment. Maybe it's b/c of the whole LiveEarth concerts... I got to see one of them in DC... or maybe it was visiting the American Indian Museum in Washington and learning a bit more about a culture that so vehemently reveres their natural environemnt. Or maybe it was the "Cool Globes" exhibit that I saw in Chicago that was global-warming minded. I don't know, but it's really been making me think about how I live my life and the miniscule, seemingly insignificant choices I make on a daily basis that impact the world around me. What happens to that water bottle that I put in the trash can b/c I can't find a recycling bin. Just how much difference does it make to bike to work instead of drive. Can't I just keep my computer on all day? I'm going to just boot it up again later. The fact is, each daily decision added up over time throughout one's existence in this world can equal a lifetime of damage and misuse to our earth. Imagine that impact multiplied by billions. When we look at issues of the environment on a global scale, the problems can seem insurmountable. But when we break down these issues into dialy decisions about how we eat, buy, transport, and entertain, we can see our impact on the fight against global envirnomental damage as significantly more manageable. We don't need to be perfect, we just need to be a little more earth-minded on a DAILY basis.

The biggest road-block for us is that we feel like we're alone. Well maybe your neighbor feels like they're alone, too. And their neighbor, or their relative, or their friend half-way across the world. Everyone feels alone in this fight because we, as cosmopolitan citizens of the world, haven't yet actively and vocally joined together in this fight. If we feel like we're all fighting together, it's much easier to go through the day with the courage to demand more of ourselves and others. Our camaraderie in this fight gives us that courage.

What have you done today to decrease your footprint on the environment?