April 22 is Earth Day

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970 and the point then, as it is now, is to raise awareness about all things environmental. Dave Mazza, Regional Director of the Pennsylvania Resources Council says people can get discouraged when they think of all the imminent threats to the environment, "all these air quality issues, global warming and climate change and they're seeing the polar bears are dying off and they're saying 'wow, these are huge global issues, how do I have an impact on that?'" But he says individuals do indeed make a difference. "When you compound what you're doing, with what your neighbor is doing with what their neighbor is doing and you're talking about 300 million people in the United States -  if people take some very simple steps, these things can have huge impacts." Mazza suggests composing, using rain barrels, taking public transit, recycling and organic gardening as simple things people can do to spare the environment. More information about Earth Day activities can be found at prc.org and gacofpa.org.