The initial text is from remarks by Borough resident Rani Norley at the opening ceremony outside Phillips Memorial Building, WCU, after her official unveiling of the 2021 Green Team yard sign marking it joining the Transition movement (close-up below; to order, see here) and, despite the blustery morning, surrounded by seasonal flowers. The following photos are of Earth Day art and observances along S. and N. High St. And the text at the end gives our own thoughts on Earth Day.

Thank you, everyone, for this wonderful event. It’s amazing to see so much support for green initiatives in our Borough. To the West Chester Green Team, Dr. Bradley Flamm, Courtney Finneran, Professor Megan Schraedley and all of you for attending and listening to these important messages — thank you. 

Thirteen months ago, our lives as we knew it, forever changed.  It has been a time of challenges and re-envisioning.  Through all the trials and tribulations, there was also something amazing happening on our planet.  As we stopped doing, our nature, plants and animals started thriving.  For me this has been a time of reflection, and how we as the people on this planet have a connection, a human connection to everything on it.  We are not just a part of it, we are deeply connected to it.  And when we take the power of our hearts, mind and body in harmony, we have the ability to do wonderful things.

Movements like the WCGT, Transition US, and WCU sustainability efforts are critical to cultivating a more just, sustainable and regenerative future.

With the new beginnings of Spring and its enthusiasm here, I am excited to take this energy towards a wonderful transition. To transition to a greener Borough. To transition to a community that values the strengths of diversity and the necessity of equity. Together, with hands of all shapes and sizes and color working in harmony to bring us Spring blossoms. 

What is Earth Day?

In April, 1970, US Senator Gaylord Nelson, drawing on his commitment to the environment, promoted the first national day to honor the Earth. People around the world now celebrate Earth Day every April 22.

Symbolically, on April 22, 2016, the nations of the world signed the Paris Agreement, setting concrete goals to rein in climate-altering worldwide temperature increases. Earth Day gradually grew into Earth Week, and now we speak of April as Earth Month.

In the northern hemisphere this is the month of spring and hope, the season to do our part by planting our own gardens and resolving to cut down on fossil fuel consumption, air and water pollution, overuse of plastics and chemicals, and other practices that threaten human and environmental health.

In the then-new Earth Day spirit, State Senator Franklin Kury guided passage of Pennsylvania’s environmental rights amendment in 1971 and now, going strong at age 84, has written a new book honoring the 50th anniversary of that constitutional guarantee to the “right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment” for all Pennsylvanians.