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Earth Day 2020
I've been a musician my whole life, playing an instrument in an orchestra, in a
Broadway show, in a recording studio. I've also taught my instrument at home
and at several different institutions. In that life, one doesn’t have much time to
think about the environment, one is chasing the next job or trying to keep up with
one’s students. It certainly never occurred to me that the air I breath into my
instrument was being degraded, that the soil from which came my food was
being polluted or that I was contributing to all of this.
This ostrich attitude has undergone a forced march change. Reading about the
pollution in Delhi or Beijing, the melting in the Anarctic, or more significantly for
me, the water pollution in site 0153 (IDEM ID number) in Indianapolis has
awakened me. Discovering the depths to which corporations will sink to make a
profit has horrified me. And watching the workings of a state legislature which
seems determined to preserve the use of fossil fuels in the face of all and any
logic has made me angry.
On this Earth Day, I hope that we all can recognize how just our little hiatus from
driving has made the air better. I hope we can change our ways: use public
transportation (once It’s safe to go out again), do more recycling and actively
support the shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. I totally support the
Youth Strike, the Elders for Climate and the goals of 350 Indiana-Indianapolis .
*This article is not in direct affiliation with YCA.