Guest writer

Earth Day each day

Planet deserves care all the time

Earth Day is coming. Tomorrow Arkansas will commemorate the wonder of our prized environment and work in myriad activities to clean it, protect it, preserve it and to celebrate it.

Originally conceived as a program to educate individuals on environmental stewardship and conservation, subsequent Earth Day additional concerns have broadened the movement to include an impressive variety of sustainability behaviors, methods and actions to care for our surroundings.

For many who are engaged in the tasks of making and keeping our state beautiful, clean and healthy, Earth Day manifests itself in basic volunteering to pick up litter, collect recyclables and to improve community beauty and attractiveness. Keep Arkansas Beautiful enables and assists in these efforts each March through May by coordinating the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup in Arkansas.

Under the rallying call, “Time to Shine,” tens of thousands of volunteers across the state pick up, plant up, paint up and clean up parks, roadsides, waterways and public spaces to make their communities cleaner, greener and more livable. As they improve their quality of place, they also create more dynamic and vibrant communities that are better able to attract visitors and tourists, relocations and new businesses, stimulating economic growth.

The energy that fuels this environmental improvement and enhancement is provided in large measure by citizen volunteers.

Each year Keep Arkansas Beautiful programs attract and engage nearly 70,000 people who volunteer to improve the visual and physical aspects of their communities that individuals can influence through their own actions. These exceptional people give of themselves to apply their time and talent, contributing over $3 million annually in valued improvement to their state and its communities while demonstrating their pride and concern for improving quality of life.

These volunteers are not paid. But it isn’t because they are worthless; they are not paid because they are priceless.

No community could afford the scale and degree of services they freely provide, nor afford to lose the benefits they present. These unselfish individuals choose to make a difference in their communities, and that difference makes their communities more desirable, attractive and livable for everyone.

As important and meaningful as Earth Day has become, the most conscientious citizens believe every day should be an Earth Day, and that each day should be observed as both a challenge and an opportunity for all of us to be more mindful of thoughtless or careless habits and practices that contribute to environmental degradation.

By improving our attitudes and actions, we can all make a significant difference through our behaviors toward our surroundings.

What can you do to help? Start by setting a good example: Act as an influence, become a model of good stewardship; don’t litter. And when you see public litter, pick it up and put it in a proper waste receptacle. Encourage family, friends, coworkers and neighbors to reduce waste, to reuse and to recycle.

Resolve to act responsibly when making choices about products and services and of actions that might result in detrimental consequences for our environment.

This Earth Day, learn to live clean and green, to educate and inspire others to help conserve and protect our shared environment. Become more active and engaged. Volunteer to be part of a powerful positive force working together to keep our Arkansas, the Natural State, naturally beautiful.

It’s our home and our heritage; it deserves our care each day, every day. -

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Robert Phelps is the executive director of the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission, a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

Editorial, Pages 11 on 04/21/2014

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