Environmental Spotlight:
Facing the Music

by Bonnie S. Swinehart

Mistakes are part of human nature. At a very young age we learn that when we make a mistake; there are usually consequences to be paid. If we displease our parents we may get sent to our rooms. If we displease our teachers we may get sent to the Principal or perhaps even receive a grade on a test that we will go to great lengths to hide from our parents. As we get older though, we often find that the mistakes we make are not so easily resolved. Many times, we don't even realize that we're about to make a decision that could affect our lives in some very adverse ways.

For instance, everybody has heard that love is blind. So what if the person who has captured our heart turns out to be totally wrong for us, and we ultimately end up heartbroken? Does that mean that we deliberately set out to sabotage ourselves? Certainly not. We simply made a mistake.

What then are we to do if not learn from our mistakes? True we could continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, but that really isn't very healthy.Instead, most of us eventually wise up and face the music. Today, each of us have some important issues to face concerning our health and happiness, and the health and happiness of future generations. Just as we never planned for love to go sour, neither did we plan to become a participant in the more universal problem of cleaning up the environment. But we have, and today we all face the problems associated with the pollution of our world's air, water and land. And since we are now obviously a part of the consequences, we would be quite wise to choose to be part of the solutions.

In June's episode of GreenWorks for Pennsylvania called "Erie and Its Environment" the people of Erie are setting an example. Through a natural need to grow and expand with the rest of the country during the Industrial Revolution, the once beautiful Lake Erie became known as "the mistake on the lake" when it could no longer sustain its natural habitats.

In this episode you will meet people who are no longer willing to remain blind to a problem that needs to be faced head-on. Instead, they have become part of a massive cleanup that is restoring the health and beauty of a landmark that will offer back to its people and habitats a promising future.