Earth Day has been celebrated April 22 every year since 1970
"This year's Earth Day theme at EvergreenHealth is Our Power, Our Planet. We're encouraged to take action, protect and preserve our planet. Here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, our own efforts – in concert with others around the world – will help protect our shared island home.
One of the purposes of Earth Day is to celebrate our natural environment, so let me share some of my personal story.
Growing up in Northeast Ohio, my urban-raised parents (my Dad grew up in NYC) would "drag" my two siblings and me out for hiking season every fall. In our community of Akron, there was a fantastic network of Metro Parks highlighting some of the wonderful, forested areas near our home. The park rangers sponsored a hiking stick and trail badge program every year where participants could complete a pre-determined number of hikes and receive a badge for the season which could be attached to your hiking staff. So every fall my family would head out with our hiking staffs and complete our hikes. And while the forest, caves, ravines, and creeks were fabulous, these hikes inevitably led to shared family conversations about school, work, friends, and travel.Those times led to my enjoyment of spending time hiking – nothing serious, mind you – I've never hiked the Appalachian Trail or the PCT – I don't even like camping, but our boys grew up day hiking with us and sharing in some of the most enjoyable, wacky, and memorable family discussions as we wandered in the woods. Now grown, or nearly grown, it's especially gratifying for one of them to ask us if we want to go for a hike, instead of the other way around.
All of that time in the woods is a great time to reflect and enjoy the moment with friends, family, or by yourself. We are incredibly fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful areas in our country and I urge everyone to appreciate and support our outdoor and historic places. Some of our favorites in the area include St. Edward St. Park (Kenmore), Wallace Falls State Park (Gold Bar), and the grounds of the former Northern State Hospital (Sedro-Woolley).
Decades later, my family home in Akron still has those hiking staffs, covered from top to bottom in seasonal badges. They provide a wonderful memory trigger of our family's time together. And in 2000, through the efforts to create national parks in or near metropolitan areas, some of those same hiking areas from my youth were incorporated into Ohio's first and only national park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park."
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