Today is earth day, and I wanted to take a moment and express my gratitude for this world of natural beauty, and the way it restores and sustains my soul.
I’m also grateful for all the people who work to care for what we’ve been given, like the workers and reformers who invested so much to restore this place.
Lake Erie, the world’s eleventh-largest freshwater lake—a body of freshwater the size of an inland sea—was declared a “dead lake” due to eutrophication and pollution in the 1960s. Today, while still in need of protection and restoration, it sustains a dizzying array of natural life. The Presque Isle peninsula, one of my family’s favorite places in the world, is more beautiful than my camera can show, and hosts both nesting and migratory birds by the thousands.
Today, I’m grateful for this world I love, and for those who love it too.
James D. Witmer 