Earth Day 2013 and Updates

Hello all,

Realizing today is Earth Day brought back memories of college. Earth Day is celebrated all over the globe as a way of gathering awareness and showing appreciation for the planet we live on. The first Earth Day was March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, but was later changed to April 22 as an educational "teach-in" by Senator Gaylord Nelson. "Earth Week" was later celebrated during the week of Earth Day. People who love our planet and wish to do or learn more should check out the official Earth Day website. (Information provided by Wikipedia.)

Why is Earth Day so meaningful to me? Well, for starters I had to do an entire board as part of an internship about Earth Day. I realized as I was putting the board together that this was an important day of the year. Whether this makes me a hippie or not, I stand by it. People have trashed our globe. I have seen terrible pollution, litter in crazy amounts, not to mention the media's fixation with the oil spills, animal extinctions and endangerments, the terrible amount of waste the standard office goes through, and places who don't even bother to recycle. And we wonder why global warming is happening! Pesticides, car exhaust, nuclear plants... did anyone ever think these things would be good for our atmosphere? It's insane! Something else that really bothers me is when people throw away things that are perfectly good. Have an old couch you hate? Reupholster, give to charity, or break it down and use the fabric for napkins or the stuffing for pillows or the wood for a picture frame. Can you imagine how much waste we'd save if we actually utilized what we had? Not to mention the money we'd save.

I think everyone should do one thing for Earth Day. Whether it's planting a flower or tree, donating $20 to a reforestation organization, or buying something from a local farm, it's a good and important cause. Don't have any money? No problem. Go for a hike. Take a picture of nature. Recycle something. Reuse something. "Upcycle" something (as much as I hate the term). Take something old an make it into something new and amazing. Adopt a pet. How is that Earth friendly? It takes another animal off the street where it could be potentially killed. You are caring for something. Life is too short to not care.

My Earth Day set-up from 2011.

My Earth Day board from 2011. I put different ways countries celebrate Earth Day.

Now for a quick update on my wondrous life:

I will not be going to school in the fall. I had to withdraw my application because I realized I could not afford the tuition. I should be getting my deposit back although I'm not sure when since I withdrew last week technically and I still haven't received it.

I have decided that now would be a fantastic time to look for a place to be employed at, for a while at least, that is in the field I graduated with a degree in. I have thought a lot about this and I think I will try to find a position working with families or foster children. It seems like it would be a good fit for me.

Speaking of jobs, I don't plan on staying in Maine past September or so because while I could get a job here, it wouldn't pay very well, and it would very likely be a driving distance no matter where I worked or lived. I'm looking for a job somewhere out west. My top state choices at the moment are Washington, Oregon, possibly Arizona, and although it's not out west, Florida. I will likely try to apply for other positions in other states just in case I can't find anything, but those are the top states at the moment.

That's about it for me right now. I should start working my summer job in May so I'll probably post around then.

Happy Earth Day!