|
OBSERVATIONS
April 21, 2020 |
 |
 Wingate Lassiter |
By golly, we need to commemorate
EARTH DAY more than ever just now
We've been taking National Geographic Magazine for as long as I can remember, so I was taken aback when I picked up the April edition with this foreboding front-cover headline:
"HOW WE LOST THE PLANT:
A Pessimist's Guide to Life on Earth in 2070."
An inside page greeted me with this warning:
"WE'RE IN TROUBLE --- Our reckless consumption and abuse of resources have made the world a deadlier place for us --- and for the rest of life on Earth."
And this isn't about the coronavirus pandemic. It's about mankind's pollution of the planet that appears to be accelerating ever more rapidly in our lifetime.
But then I flipped the magazine over and saw a completely different front cover on the other side:
"HOW WE SAVED THE WORLD:
An Optimist's Guide to Life on Earth in 2070."
Here's how the content of that half of the magazine was introduced:
"WE'VE GOT THIS --- Ingenuity, Compassion, and Persistence will help us come up with solutions to some of the planet's biggest problems."
April's two-headed edition is National Geographic's way of commemorating the 50th anniversary of EARTH DAY --- started in 1970 as a grassroots protest movement spurred by alarming reports of an environment in crisis because of "oil spills, smog, (and) rivers so polluted they literally caught on fire," according to the website earthday.org>
This year's commemoration takes place this Wednesday (April 22).
The theme
for Earth Day 2020 is "Climate Action." States the
website: "The enormous challenge --- but also the vast
opportunities --- of action on climate change have
distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the
50th anniversary."You might say the current worldwide response to the coronavirus pandemic is a dress rehearsal for the day global warming threatens us with greater ferocity than a single disease.
That day may not come for another generation, perhaps two. But the science is undeniable, and we had better take that threat more seriously than we have up to now. Or else our grandchildren and their offspring will suffer unimaginable consequences.
Here's the link to the National Geographic Magazine online>
Truly a "small business" with 500 employees?
A company with a payroll that large isn't what I envision when politicians talk about helping "small business... the backbone of America."
In the European Union, a "small business" has fewer than 50 employees. In Australia, it's "small" if it has fewer than 15. That's right, 15 --- a number established by an Australian law enacted in 2009.
But 500? Only in the U.S.A. where, I suspect, special interests had a hand in the legislation that wrote the rules for loans from the Small Business Administration.
Now we read about large restaurant chains that employ thousands taking huge loans from the Federal Government's emergency Paycheck Protection Program, shutting out the truly small businesses that need help the most. (Apparently those large chains qualified for the SBA loans because each restaurant was counted separately when it comes to employee numbers.)
That's shameful. And another piece of evidence of how this nation has gotten off the track of taking care of the most vulnerable among us.
Knock Out roses above the Riverwalk
This popular variety of red roses is prevalent about town just now, especially noticeable on public properties like the embankment below the Market Street bridge across the Neuse River. They seem to thrive in such places, with minimal maintenance required. Many more of them grace the yards of Smithfield's residents. Go for a ride and take a look.
Got a comment or a question?
If so, send an e-mail to editor@smithfieldweeklysun.com.
Or, if you prefer, mail a letter to P.O. Box 1363, Smithfield, N.C. 27577.
We'll confirm receipt of your correspondence and, if any or all of it is appropriate for publication, we'll ask your permission to print before we "go to press." If we publish your submission, all we will show is your name and place of residence. Neither your e-mail address nor your complete postal address will be shared with our readers or anyone else.
To make verification simpler, please sign up as a subscriber if you haven't already done so, using the online form below:
RETURN TO THE SMITHFIELD WEEKLY SUN FRONT PAGE