Day 167-Earth Day Monday

Dear Mr. President,

I, and many others, have been calling on you to take the opportunity, now that the graphic images demonstrating the toll of our oil addiction are still shocking Americans into questioning their behavior, to call on all Americans to change our habits in order to avoid another incident like this one. Today I read an article that convinced me we've been wrong to do so. Americans have outgrown the spirit of sacrifice and community that got us through WWII; when President Bush asked only that we keep shopping, we were only too happy to comply. I want you to ask us to change, to give up some of the luxuries we're used to for the greater good of sustaining our planet for generations to come. I want you to do this, but I know that, even if you did, it might only mean the end of your Presidency, and have little effect on our actual habits.

So today's letter, Mr. President, isn't for you. It's for all the people who read my blog. It isn't many, mostly friends and family, but I'm hoping it will be enough. This is as big a soap box as I will ever have. So, dear readers, I ask you to take a look at your own lives, your own habits. How can you use less oil? How can you make transportation and food and lifestyle choices that will help you consume less? Can you encourage others in your life to do the same? Even small changes will add up if enough of us commit to them. I'm making a commitment to all of you, and to our President, to make the small changes necessary in my own life, to give up the things that I can live without, if it means a better world for my nephew. Many of us have a holy day, a day set aside for the sacred; I'm proposing that we, no matter what our faith, chose one day a week to devote to the planet as well. We should give up a day to the reverence of the earth, to tend our gardens or clean up parks or, at the very least, to give up consuming fast food, especially beef, and unnecessary driving. We need an Earth Day every single week. What greater display of faith could their be, than to put aside our instant gratification, for the betterment of future generations?

My Earth Day is going to be every Monday. I'm going to do more research about reducing my oil consumption and overall carbon footprint, and post a more detailed plan here. I hope that every one who reads this can find a small sacrifice to make in their own lives. Because, be it today or tomorrow, things have to change.

Respectfully yours,

Kelsey