OPINION
Our wildlife wonders

Over the past month the Discovery Channel has been playing the new Planet Earth series. It took over 5 years in the making including filming and editing at over 200 locations around the world. Those that filmed the series caught many never before wildlife scenes. The episodes range from the artic to the rainforests, and from the deserts to the grasslands. Planet Earth filmmakers went, literally, to the ends of the earth to capture the essence of our planet, spending 2,000 days in the field. They lived for weeks or months at a time in remote locations, both awe-inspiring and brutally difficult to reach (http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/planet-earth.html).

The producers of Planet Earth were Penny Allen and Jonny Keeling. Keeling spent days on end (four weeks to be exact) in the Arctic Circle in Greenland, waiting patiently to capture a musk ox fight on camera. When it happened, the light was perfect and it took just 30 seconds of footage. Allen went through a week of industrial-rope climbing instruction to prepare for the climb of her life: ascending Earendil, California’s tallest redwood at 330 feet.

The Planet Earth series will enlighten you and your family as we have the upcoming Earth Day on April 22nd. On April 22, 1970, 20 million people across America celebrated the first Earth Day. Cities were buried under their own smog and polluted rivers caught fire. Now Earth Day is celebrated annually around the globe. The combined efforts of the U.S. government, grassroots organizations, and citizens around the world now campaign to protect our global environment. Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson passed away July 2005 at the age of 89. He believed strongly that education is the key to changing people’s attitudes about the environment. He devoted much of his energy to that challenge (http://earthday.wilderness.org/history/).

What are some small things that you can do to conserve our resources. Reduce electricity

* Flip off the light when you leave a room and shut off the TV
* Appliances like DVD players use energy even when off, so cutting the power totally is the only way to conserve. Go shopping together to buy power bars and plug your electronics into them.
* Shut off the water when brushing your teeth
* Take faster showers or baths in just a small amount of water
* Hang clothes on the line instead of putting them in the dryer
* Choose products that are not over packaged
* Recycle everything that you can

With just a little time and thought we can all save energy. Do something today.

Bonnie Nelson is a freelance writer living in Fountain, CO. If you have comments or questions, email her at waltbon@comcast.net
CONTACT THE WRITER • WALTBON@COMCAST.NET

BONNIE'S ARCHIVES
April 11, 2007