AAPI Community Cruise passengers 2017
Dear friends,
It seems like yesterday that I was attending my first Earth Day in bell-bottom jeans and a tie dye T-shirt. Like the hole in the ozone, the bell-bottoms are gone, but the tie dying and the challenges posed by climate change remain. There is still so much more to do to follow in the footsteps of our country’s indigenous people and value long term sustainability, which require us to think seven generations into the future.
I recently read, The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long Term Thinking with my “climate goddesses” book group. The title is taken from a quote by Jonas Salk, who created the polio vaccine. He believed that the most important question to ask ourselves is, “Are we being good ancestors.” He practiced this in his own life by giving away the vaccine for free and curing the world of polio.
Today, we can recognize the importance of every person having access to public open space, clean water, and clean air as well as our collective need to address climate change. We especially want this for our young people of every color and culture; they are the next generation of stewards. The theme for this Year’s Earth Day is “Restore our Earth.” Let’s commit to work together to do this today and every day, on the harbor and around the world, for the next seven generations.
Happy Earth Day,
Katherine F. Abbott
President and CEO
Boston Harbor Now
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