Story Tools
Welcome to the March issue of canvas. This is one of those months that fills me with anticipation. Being a passionate gardener, I find nothing more hopeful than seeing the green sprouts of spring bulbs begin to appear, and the tiny tendrils of perennial leaves slowly unfurling from the earth. Though it’s a time of hope, there is also much to be concerned about—as I was reminded last week while channel surfing and stumbling upon Al Gore’s quintessential blockbuster, An Inconvenient Truth, just at that pivotal moment when he showed glacial ice literally disintegrating into the sea right before our eyes. I’d recently experienced just such an “aha” (or should I say “oh no”) moment on February 2nd, when waves of purple crocuses came into full bloom in my garden more than a month earlier than normal. That mixed feeling of hopefulness and dread during both of these moments is replicated as I edit each issue of this magazine.
One of the most joyous things about editing canvas is learning more about the efforts fellow Long Islanders are making to change our world for the better. While many of the articles remind us about discouraging factors such as global warming and other issues affecting the state of our world (for instance, see Lisa Kiss’s astounding piece about garbage; how did we let the problem of trash get so big, so fast!?!), when editing these stories I simultaneously feel a great sense of hope. It’s rejuvenating to hear about people who are addressing environmental concerns—folks like you and me who care about what’s going wrong and taking the initiative to do something about it. Count among them the attendees of conferences such as Greener Gadgets, where representatives from major electronics manufacturers met last month to brainstorm about how to deal with obsolete technology that’s rapidly swelling our landfills (read more about this event in Healthy Home). Or the folks at Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk, who are building their first LEED-certified green home for a family who will learn how to live more efficiently.
People like this are leading by example, as Al Gore has demonstrated throughout his political career in his commitment to help protect the environment and inform the public about the importance of doing so. While we have a long way to go to undo so much of the damage our disposable society has wrought, it’s reassuring to discover major corporations and private citizens such as ourselves are finally waking up to the fact that something must be done. It’s an exciting time of reckoning and awakening, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how it unfolds.
