Green Living by Janet Marchant: Greening Our Whole Planet

This is my favorite time of year, when the daisies are blooming and warm breezes are blowing with just a hint of summer. It's only right that this is when we celebrate a holiday that reminds us all of why green living is so important. Yes, I'm talking about Earth Day, the day when we all renew our promise to save the planet. And when I say save the planet, of course I mean Planet Alameda.

That's right, folks; our island nation is more than just a pretty city. It's also its own planet! Many people don't seem to realize this, which makes them think saving the planet is hard, but it's really pretty easy. All you have to do is take care of your little piece of earth. You might do that by planting it with Kentucky bluegrass, or by paving it over so that it won't erode and wash into the bay, never to return.

There are many other things you can do to protect your environment, too. Over the months, I've given my readers plenty of tips on how to encourage the use of clean coal, how to increase the amount of recycling you do, and all kinds of other things that make Alameda a better planet. One thing that all of these green living tips have in common is that there's no reason to worry about what effect they might have outside Alameda, because we are our own planet. Likewise, it doesn't matter whether anyone outside Alameda follows any of my green living tips since they can't possibly affect us here. They are free to do all of those things we won't do here, because it won't increase our traffic, or worsen our air quality.

So, fellow Alamedans, this is Janet Marchant wishing you a happy, guilt-free Earth Day, from my backyard to yours.