I’m seeing a lot of news stories and videos about environmentalists striking and protesting about climate change. A 16-year-old woman took a boat from Sweden to New York City, skipping out of school along with millions of other of her classmates, to take to the streets and rally and protest and complain about climate change. Everyone wants someone to fix the environment.

All this environmental awareness reminds me of when I was a little bit younger than this woman, maybe about 13, and some Senator from Wisconsin organized the first Earth Day. Funny thing is, I don’t remember huge numbers of strikes or rallies or taking to the streets in massive protests. What I do remember is a bunch of concerned people wading waist-deep out into the extremely-polluted Milwaukee River and pulling garbage out and making a difference. A place where carp could barely survive and trash abounded, now sees salmon spawning. I guess what I’m saying is that I’d like to see a lot more people doing something instead of just saying something. Like with the #cleanCatoosa2019, or the #LDSEarthStewardship projects. These mean I have to get my butt off this rocking chair and go do something. Like rip out more of my lawn to plant it to wildflowers.

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/…/jb_modern_earthday_1.html

PS: When you listen to all these so-called environmental activists, like this woman (#Greta) from Sweden, all I hear them saying is “we (nations of the world) have to reduce emissions by X percent, we have to stop doing this thing by X percent.” They come up with these massive requirements that nobody can fathom and thus no individual can do. These activists are pushing the responsibility onto governments, on the climate change agreements in Kobe and elsewhere.

And that won’t fix the environment.

I don’t recall any of them ever standing up and saying “Will everybody please just stop using plastic for a year?” (Like my friend Cindy A is doing.) “Will everybody please just walk to school or to church or to work or take mass transit?” “Will everybody please just pick up one or two items of litter a day?” “Will everybody please just recycle?” Those are immediate, personal actions that will help fix the environment.

When we change the projects of “Fix the Environment” into the large percentage solutions and push those projects onto the government, we abdicate our individual responsibility. My personal call is this: This week, will you plant a flower, a tree or shrub? Will you pick up a piece of litter or two a day? Will you walk to your neighbor’s or your siblings or your friends a quarter of a mile or a half a mile or to school or work instead of driving?

I will. Because that attitude, and those actions, are what is going to fix the environment. I’m going to start tomorrow by ripping up some of my lawn and planting it to wildflowers for the bees, and transplanting some trees to where they will grow faster and add more CO2. Because I believe in doing instead of not doing, making changes individually instead of protesting and expecting the government to fix the environment.

Because individual actions change attitudes. And many changed attitudes, doing something, will change the world and fix the environment.