Not so Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth day. I'd say happy Earth day, but with what's happening right now, I don't think Mother Earth is happy at all. Why would she be happy? Her seas are riddled with trash, her mountains are bald, her animals in the skies, land, and sea are being driven out from their natural habitats because of human greed. I know the Earth day is a day that celebrates the environmental and a special day to raise awareness of how harsh we humans are to mother earth.

To celebrate Earth day, I'd like to share to you a book that your kids might love and would dramatically raise awareness towards pollution and how it can be resolved. The book is titled Inhale, Exhale. It was written by Becky Bravo and illustradted by Elizabeth Parrocha. This is under the Lampara Books publishing here in the Philippines.

From the title itself, you'll get a gist that it's about air pollution. It's a short story butnit is packed with so much power especially if read aloud to the young children. As you read through the pages through, it also tackles other forms of pollution that we humans causes to Mother Earth. It talks about how every little thing that an individual does that hurt nature adds up and creates a huge impact to our planet. While I was reading this aloud to my daughter, it reminded me that my forgetting to turn off the lights when they're not in use may seem to be just a little thing but it has a contribution to the ongoing problem.

The book also talked about how everyone knows and sees the problem but no one seems to do something about it. There's this part of the story that kept ringing in my ear. Someone else will do something about it. And everyone else thought the same. In the end, nobody did anything about the problem. The example my daughter gave was that when there's a trash on the floor and if everyone of us would think that someone would pick up the trash, then the trash will just stay there.

It's easy to say "Let Greenpeace do that, or let the environmentalists deal with the pollution. It seems like there's really no effect on us whatsoever so we just go on with our lives like we're not breathing the same polluted air as everyone else. We throw trash mindlessly, we buy cars and vehicles because we can, we just use the electricity because it's easy. We love the comfort. We admire the progress. We thirst for innovations.

While writing this, I feel like I'm just a fool dreaming. Who would walk that far under this heat? Who could sleep well without using airconditioning if it's too hot? Who could plant trees if therenisn't any space? And if there is, what plant could survive such a hostile environment? We love the comfort so much, it's too hard to thinknof sollutions that does not involve giving up the thing we love.

Remember how the book said every litle thing that humans did added to the problem. What if we did simple things that added to the solution? The book isn't saying we shouldn't enjoy the good things in life. It's saying each of us is a part of the solution. Trees and plants play a big role in giving us clean, healthy air. If each of us plants a tree, imagine how green Mother Earth would be? If each of us would just feel it is normal to walk a few blocks from the house to the market or church, or mall, or wherever, imagine how much pollution could have not been added to the already dirty air?

Progress have brought humans so far from where we began. From using primitive tools, humans now have sophisticated gadgets that our caveman ancestors never even dreamed of. It wohldn't hurt so much though to slow even just a little bit. If we all just stop for a moment and take a step back, I imagine something might change. Now my daughter understands when we just take a walk when we go to some places that are not that far and if we take the public transportation.

I hope you get a copy of the book Inhale, Exhale. Read it aloud to your kids. Who knows it might help open up their minds too. Who knows on the next few years, it will be a Happy Earth Day for real.