Today is Saturday, April 22, 2023. Today is the 53rd anniversary of the first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970. This national observance was created as a way to increase public awareness about environmental issues. The idea for this yearly observance was the brainchild of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson who was a Wisconsin Democrat at the time and suggested that a national event be held to identify ways to safeguard the environment. At the time, he envisioned having a series of nationwide teach-ins, mostly on college campuses, that soon branched out to municipalities across the country. Earth Day was first recognized worldwide in 1990.

In recognition of this annual observance, I offer a sober letter to the editor of the Daily News by Donald Moskowitz who notes some very sobering statistics about the environment that should give everyone pause. He notes that the Greenland ice sheet is melting at an accelerating rate because of the increase in global temperatures caused by carbon emissions blanketing the atmosphere. “The average temperature in the world is increasing by 3.2 degrees centigrade compared to the goal limit of 1.5 degrees centigrade to sustain a livable planet.”

What everyone should find troubling about the state of the environment is the 3.5 trillion of tons of ice sheet that has melted from 2011 t0 2020. To halt this worsening situation, Moskowitz recommends that the industrialized world, primarily the United States and China, have to increase the use of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles to reduce carbon emissions. Deforestation is also a major problem, Moskowitz claims, in some countries, especially in the Amazon rainforest. In these areas, as land is cleared and carbon-absorbing forests are cut down to make room for farming, more carbon is released into the atmosphere. Those homeowners who remove trees from their properties end up increasing emissions as well. Extreme weather caused by climate change has augmented drought conditions, including the western United States. The water supply suffers as a result of this strain and crop yields as well, whereas the world’s food supply has been adversely affected. “Decreased crop production has increased global hunger and it is putting upward pressure on world food prices.”

In the last paragraph, this concerned reader proposes that we have to urgently address the climate change issue, as our Earth is in trouble. The question can now be raised, what have you done lately for the environment, given this depressing situation?

Today is the first full day of grappling with the loss of our dear friend “Mark” who, we think, died on Friday morning. It’s still very difficult to grasp the reality of it. I know that Elliot and I will have to do so, eventually. Mark’s brother sent out a general email to Mark’s friends and acquaintances to indicate the time of his gravesite ceremony. Originally, it was scheduled for this coming Tuesday, but now, it’s been rescheduled for this Wednesday, when I should be coming home from Grand Rapids, Michigan, after helping my son with his eye procedure. Otherwise, I would have definitely gone with Elliot to pay our respects.

Thus Elliot stayed home, while I spent the day with my Astoria friend “Seth” as a way to distract me from absorbing the full impact of Mark’s demise. So we met earlier at Jackson Hole for breakfast around 11:30 and then I followed Seth to his house in my car and got a parking spot, joining him upstairs in his apartment for scintillating conversation and some refreshments. We then discussed going to see a film and we agreed to see the new horror film called The Pope’s Exorcist starring Russell Crowe and the sturdy Franco Nero as the Pope. I found Crowe’s performance as an Italian exorcist working exclusively for the supreme pontiff very persuasive but the film lacked chills, since, in my mind, the movie was a fairly standard narrative of a boy’s possession by an evil demonic force. But it was good to get out, even though the film didn’t scare the bejesus out of me. To me, this was done better in the original The Exorcist and other films dealing with demonic possession since then.

I’m still not ready to report on any major news story as of yet, while I deal with our friend’s passing. Tomorrow will be my last blog before leaving for Michigan on Monday, by the way.

Have a good Sunday.

Stay safe and be well.