April 22nd is Earth Day, a day to honor our connection to the planet we live on and make sure we’re doing our best to help rather than harm our Earth community. Our staff, residents, and clients have a lot to say about why the Earth is important and what we can do to help.

The Earth matters to us because, in the words of a student, “we live on this world and we get everything we need to live from Earth.” This is the home for all people, and where all of our food and water comes from. “It sustains all life,” adds a resident, reminding us of the diversity of creatures that share their home with us. And what we do to Earth is what we do to ourselves, since, as Kristin from Womens’ Services observes “we don’t have another […] home to go to.”

What are We Doing?

On Earth Day it’s important to  “inspect what you’re doing,” says Kristin. How are your actions and the actions of the people and institutions around you helping or harming our patch of Earth? Many residents note that disposing of waste by recycling or composting it instead of littering can reduce harmful pollution. In addition, doing our best to use and create systems of transportation, farming, and building that use renewable resources instead of fossil fuels is an important project to keep the climate from becoming even more unstable. To one student, the most important thing is that “the Earth should be a safe place” to live, work, and play.

To observe and celebrate the holiday, one resident has organized the One Bag Challenge, a time to help remove litter from the CMC neighborhood. Staff, residents, and clients will be helping on Earth Day afternoon. This will help “be part of the solution, not the problem” by keeping toxic plastics out of the soil and water where they can harm plants and animals. Others plan to garden and plant trees to help Cedar Rapids’ plant community recover from the derecho. What are you going to do this Earth Day?

Words to Know:

Diversity – Many different types of people, animals, plants, or other things

Pollution – Things people make that go into the air, water, or soil and can hurt living things

Transportation – The ways we move from place to place

Renewable Resource – Something from the Earth that grows back and keeps the land safe

Fossil Fuel – Coal, natural gas, oil, and other things that people burn to make machines work.

Climate – The types of weather that happen often in a place