Here's an excerpt from a speech given at Jackman's Earth Day Assembly...
Happy Mother’s Day Everyone! What’s that? It’s not Mother’s Day? Are you sure? Okay. So, if it’s not Mother’s Day, what day is it? It’s Earth Day? Let me check my calendar. OK, here's New Years Day and Valentine’s Day and my birthday. Oh, here it is... April 22... Earth Day!!! :-) Happy Earth Day everyone!
You know, now that I think about it, Mother's Day and Earth Day have a lot in common. I'm sure you'll agree, Mothers and the Earth are just so lovable. Come to think of it, fathers are lovable too.
So think about this... What do we do for our moms on Mother’s Day? Buy flowers. A special card. Maybe a gift. How about breakfast in bed? Or a picnic in the park? We do similar things for dads on Father’s Day. Take it from me... Moms and Dads really appreciate these gestures. They'll be feeling the love.
Still, when Mother’s day is over, do you stop loving you mom? Of course not! You’re going to love her everyday 365 days a year. Dad’s too. And you show your love with your day-to-day words and actions.
Now think... what do we do to show our love for the Earth on Earth Day? We host school assemblies. We plant flowers and trees. We clean up the neighbourhood litter. We make posters. These are all great ideas... but there's just one problem. We can't just love the Earth on April 22. We need to love the Earth 365 days per year.
That’s why Jackman has a new eco slogan - "Every Day is Earth Day!" It reminds us to love the earth EVERY SINGLE DAY. And you guessed it, our love is demonstrated in our actions. So, what does 365 days of Earth loving look like? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Make good choices about what we buy! We live in a world that values 'stuff' And frequently, we overdo it. We need to be careful with our purchases. Not to mention the packaging our stuff comes in.
- Travel in eco friendly ways. Biking and walking to school. Try it... it's fun.
- Reduce. Reduce. Reduce. We're good at recycling. Not so bad on reusing. But reducing?!?! That needs some work. We need to reduce our waste. Especially our food waste. Reduce our energy use. Reduce our busy lives that require us to make convenient choices instead of eco-friendly choices.
- Learn about the issues that face our world. We need to educate oureslves about eco issues. Books, news, social media, conversations. But let's not stop there... ask, "What can we do about these issues?"
So, let’s commit to making 'every day earth day', here at Jackman, but also at home and in the community. You can do it Jackman!
