BY HARNOOR GILL
Grade 11 student
Christ The King Catholic Secondary
Georgetown, Ontario
“We’re sitting on our blessed Mother Earth from which we get our strength and determination, love and humility – all the beautiful attributes that we’ve been given. So turn to one another; love one another; respect one another; respect Mother Earth; respect the waters – because that’s life itself!” – Phil Lane, Sr.
THIS Valentine’s Day why not celebrate it by being in love with Mother Nature’s resourceful ways of happiness and joy. All you have to do is get your thinking cap on and get going because it’s time to LOVE nature’s ways of living. We have nature all around us that needs to be respected like Phil Lane, Sr. has suggested that we do and that involves respecting others as well because we as humans are also a big part of nature ourselves. In order to gain Mother Earth’s respect, I would advise that you volunteer in the environment, taking care of Mother Nature’s unlimited resources and having the courage to inspire your peers as well.
Being a volunteer is like being a good helper that likes to be involved in the community in order to gain the pure satisfaction of gaining recognition in his / her field of helping. You can do exactly this in the field of the environment by letting people know how important it is for us to help in conserving and protecting the environment around us. In order to accomplish this you could visit your local ecology centre to gain more information about how you could be an asset towards their benefit of preserving the local park. I have taken up this very commitment quite seriously actually by volunteering at my local ecology centre, the WPEC (Willow Park Ecology Centre). This has benefitted me during this time in the park because I have learned a lot about the environment and how we should respect it with our utmost joy for it protects us in a fun way.
Be yourself and be alive because you are going to be taking care of Mother Nature’s unlimited resources once you decide to take this vow. If you are not sure on how to start, just start off small on the ‘right’ foot by leading the recycling at your house or even taking out the compost bin in your family. If you desire plants, then plant a little garden in your backyard to broaden your horizons and enjoy nature’s beauty. Once you start, you will notice more of nature than you ever did think of before such as going for a run in the morning. Before nature inspired you , you were probably just thinking of drinking a nice, cold smoothie after your run. But now that you enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer, you will start to notice the different species of birds during different climates and even the pollution coming from factories. This is just an example of how you will want to take care of what this Earth has to offer.
Last of all, spread the word on this amazing cause to LOVE Mother Nature on Valentine’s Day by having the courage to inspire your peers as well about this matter. You may encounter some difficulty during this process of letting others know about this cause but while you’re at it, don’t ever give up. I personally even feel that at times it may be a bit difficult to get youth that are your own age to positively accept situations that you would like them to consider such as preserving the environment around them. You will also get people to like this cause if you get them to go out and experience for themselves how pollution is affecting our native species and how invasive species are ruining the natural environment around us day by day. What I would like for you as a reader to truly understand from this is that it’s hard to persuade but it’s worth it in the end because you can see visual improvements.
In conclusion, I emphasize that you change your valentine’s routine for one year by loving Mother Nature instead to show your compassion towards caring and monitoring the environment as an eco-tastic environmentalist. For more information regarding how you could potentially be helping Mother Earth if you decided that you would like to learn much more, visit the following links: