Today is the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day—and I’m old enough to remember that first event on April 22, 1970. My friends and I would mark the day by walking the five miles to school rather than riding the bus.
On this Earth Day, I participated in the Great River Pull event in Woonsocket, aimed at cleaning up and protecting the Blackstone River (for more Blackstone cleanup events, click here).
Sponsored by NeighborWorks, RiverzEdge Arts Project, and Family Resources Community Action, it was a true community effort with participants of all ages pitching in—all eager to restore this vital resource in the area.
And that’s what I would encourage all of us to do—not just on Earth Day, but all year long: Look for ways to protect and restore 
our local environmental resources, whether it be neighborhoods, parks, beaches, rivers or the bay. While global climate change is clearly an issue, if we each do our part locally, it will make a collective difference. Think global, act local, as the saying aptly goes.
The Earth Day events continue: Tonight I’ll visit Clean Water Action’s Earth in Jeo-Party event at Local 121 in Providence. On Saturday morning, I’ll be at the cleanup of the Oakland Cemetery in Cranston, and the Broad Street Beautification Project cleanup event in Providence, which starts at the Algonquin House.
For more information on these activities, and green events around the year, visit www.whatgrowsonri.com.