April 30
Did you think it was easy being green for Earth Month? Can you continue with climate action for all of 2020? Besides being the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, 2020 is also United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020. This proclamation was made for “raising awareness of the value of biodiversity amongst the general public, and developing a broad consensus across society for the actions needed by individuals and communities.”UN Decade Biodiversity “The Strategic Plan was created by the United Nations. Its mission is to “take effective and urgent action to halt the loss of biodiversity in order to ensure that by 2020 ecosystems are resilient and continue to provide essential services, thereby securing the planet’s variety of life, and contributing to human well-being, and poverty eradication.” UN Strategic Plan for Biodiversity
Take action for biodiversity locally. For a second activity today; how many smaller words or anagrams can be made from biodiversity?
Small Yellow Lady’s Slipper – Cypripedium parviflorum Courtesy Judy Gallagher cc2-0
Grasshopper_Sparrow CC2.0 dominic sheronY
American golden plover (Pluvialis dominica) sighted at Richard St. Barbe Baker spring 2019
Bumblebee on rose
The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill became the driver for change, and provided the impetus for founding Earth Day in 1970. 80,000 to 100,000 barrels (13,000 to 16,000 m3) of crude oil spilled into the Santa Barbara Channel. Following this, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was created and the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts were passed.
Across Canada, “in a single decade, federal and provincial governments established ministries or departments of the environment, environmental protection Acts and environmental assessment legislation….the intergovernmental Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) began to define a national list of species at risk. ” Canadian Encyclopedia The Canadian Nature Federation grew out of the Audubon Society of Canada.“Canadian Encyclopedia “Recognizing the need for better environmental management, the federal government passed the Canada Water Act in 1970 and created the Department of the Environment in 1971, entrusting the Inland Waters Directorate with providing national leadership for freshwater management.”Environment and Climate Change
The Saskatoon Afforestation Areas, the City of Saskatoon’s tree nurseries, were planted in 1972-1973 as part of the Green Survival Campaign in the war against ecology abuse the afforestation area exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time on developments in town-planning, and architectural landscape design program aimed at improving the future environment of the city;
George Genereux Urban Regional Park and Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area are the only places of their kind which have survived to this day from the original Green Survival afforestation project. They are afforestation areas ‘preserved in perpetuity’ based on the Green Survival Strategy which are excellent examples of the horticulture phase in the history of Saskatoon, and North America.
Take action for biodiversity at the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas.
The Green Survival Program ’Green Survival’ was an award-winning program for improving the environment, more beauty to see, and conservation of land from erosion with plantings of trees and shrubs in the fight against environmental deterioration and focusses attention on the important role that plant life plays in a healthful environment.
Climate change is a terrible problem, and it absolutely needs to be solved. It deserves to be a huge priority. Bill Gates
Kathy Cronkite of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix wrote the “Green Survival War against ecology abuse. This concrete and asphalt jungle, filthy air and cold, stark, angular outlines devoid of greenery, are the characteristics of the modern metropolis. But man is instinctively against this type of life and often retreats to the country to enjoy fresh, clean air and green landscape as far as the eyes can see. …Saskatoon’s parks and recreation board has preserved the areas of Beaver Creek and Cranberry Flats and the rifle range as open space to be enjoyed by Saskatoonians in pursuit of passive recreation such as picnics. It [parks and rec] has also ventured into a massive project of planting 200,000 trees for local parks, on 600 acres of land south of Diefenbaker Park and south of the CNR station [Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area].
The Green Survival Campaign spread across North America in 1972 and 1973. “A ‘Survival’ Message Green Survival has a message. It is simply that “each individual can have a positive, meaningful effect on the quality of life by planting trees and other living plants.” The appeal of this simple message has spread across the nation, and beyond, to Canada, England, Holland and Germany.
“We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.” — Jay Inslee
“‘Green Survival’ Time. In France and in Canada’s French-speaking Quebec Province they say, “L’air pur… par la verdure.” In Germany they say, “Grun ist leben.” In some half-dozen countries, they express the message in their own language and here, all across the United States, it is said this way: “Green Survival. It’s something you do.” The term “Green Survival” is being seen in relation to almost any of nature’s growing gifts of plants and trees and shrubs. While communities have adopted programs to receive national recognition as ‘Green Survival Cities.’
“Green Survival …the battle tends to center around water and air pollution,” said Mr. Kay. “One of the most important parts of our environment has been largely overlooked – the land itself. And it is here that the individual can serve a profound role in improving the world around us.” According to the Green Survival publication, steady progress is being made toward more abundant use of plant material in urban renewal, and toward providing more open space in the center cities of America. It reports that shopping malls are “Including landscaping in their designs and highway planting is becoming more and more apparent. Industry, too, has come to grips with the necessity of pleasing surroundings -both for employee satisfaction and neighborhood good-will, the booklet states. Copies of “Green Survival and the Environmental Crisis”, explaining the role of plant material and the individual in environmental quality …Joining in an all-out national campaign to stimulate individual action in the fight against environmental deterioration” (Free Press, 1970)
Today is Thursday April 30, and celebrating Earth Month. This year’s Earth Day 2020 theme is Climate Action.
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” — Albert Einstein
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“While the problem can sometimes seem overwhelming, we can turn things around — but we must move beyond climate talk to climate action.” — Ted Turner
“Preparing for climate change has to be a national priority backed by tens of billions in federal investment. Lives are on the line.” — Bill de Blasio
“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker
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