Green Day

There is a lot of debate these days about global warming.

It doesn't matter whether you think former Vice President Al Gore is right on the money with his movie "An Inconvenient Truth," or you believe he's exaggerating the case. Environmental concerns are something we should all be concerned about at some level. Ignoring the impact of man-made pollution until they directly affect your daily life is far from prudent.

But something we can all agree on is that the local move to clean up the towns is a positive step. Bob Francis may be unhappy enough with Westminster's decisions to rezone his property that he's suing them, but he is taking to heart his goal to clean up the town.

Francis is forming a crew to work around town to pick up trash as spring starts. The clean-up is Sunday, April 22 - Earth Day.

Earth Day was the idea of former US Senator Gaylord Nelson who believed "that the American people need a forum to express their concerns about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes and air."

In 1962 Nelson persuaded President John F. Kennedy to conduct a "conservation tour." Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, did all they could to place the conservation issue on the national agenda.

It took Nelson seven more years of work to launch the first Earth Day. In April 1970, he succeeded.

The Townsend Recycling Committee and Recreation Department are working to hold their Backyard Habitat event on the Townsend Common on Saturday, April 28.

These locally organized events work well in two ways. First, they clean up the local communities and help keep the New England small town landscape preserved as we drive or walk around the towns.

Secondly, they are an easy way of coping with a national and international issue. If every community took a little bit of time to clean itself up then pollution in the rivers, the soil and other areas would decrease.