People like us want to leave our children and children?s children a clean, livable planet. We will have to educated them to have ?a range of critical-thinking skills to deal with an unprecedented future,? said Susanne Moser, Ignition, and ?the ability to cooperate with others under stress to deal with the challenges.?

Medical and public health professional are ?taking responsible, ethical action to protect human life,? said Bob Musil, Ignition and we need to help them. We all want healthy homes and communities and right now our laws do not adequately protect us, much less our children.

Climate change not only effects the environment around us but the environment within us ? toxin levels, deformities, disabilities and the spread of disease. In 1962, during open-air nuclear testing, John F. Kennedy said, ?We all love our children. We all breathe the same air. We are all mortal.? And we all need to do what we can to stop climate change.

Bob Musil, Ignition says climate change ?will create serious negative effects from ? flooding, wetland destruction and spread of waterborne ? diseases.? Not to mention the effects of increased heat.

There is a close relationship between dirty air (high particulate levels from vehicles and power plants) and natural disasters, asthma and heat related deaths. There is also a close relationship between dirty water (pollution from pesticide runoff) and mercury poison, fish advisories and ?boil? orders.

Most of us have a part of the natural world we hold dear ? woods or mountains or lakes or rivers or even urban garden plots. What happens when those places of spiritual solace disappear? Who is responsible? Aren?t we Earth?s stewards?

Find a place in our community to revitalize ? plant trees and involve diverse groups. Eat locally grown food and walk or bicycle to get it. Write your local, state, and federal officials to pressure them for clean energy and strong emissions policies. Speak up for your family?s health. VOTE ? vote for those who have individuals? best interest at heart and not big business?. Stand up for your right to clean air, clean water and a sustainable planet. Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescents and your appliances to Energy Star and turn them off when not in use. Caulk your windows and weather-strip your doors. Fix leaky faucets and don?t waste water. Combine driving trips and don?t idle. You are part of the solution!

Funding for grassroots organization can dramatically shift national energy policy by banding us together for a louder voice. It is ALL our individual responsibilities? to help make giant strides against climate change for the generations to come. We can solve it! Start now.

On Saturday, it was a beautiful day and Keep Carrollton Beautiful volunteers made sure our streets, parks, greenbelts, streams and lakes are even more beautiful now! Spending their own free time in community service, 270 volunteers collected 9,740 pounds of litter and debris from 34 sites in Carrollton. ?We had individual volunteers and scouts and schools and churches and neighborhoods this year. They focused their amazing ?can do? attitudes to plan, set up, collect trash and break down our event. We could do nothing without their beautiful spirits.? said Sharon Goddard.

The Don?t Mess With Texas Trash-Off event was a grassroots partnership with Keep America Beautiful, Keep Texas Beautiful and the Texas Department of Transportation – with 340 affiliates cleaning all over Texas. All of America should be looking pretty good today!

Locally, the Trash-Off was Keep Carrollton Beautiful?s sixth annual participation. The event is just one of many activities they host or empower during the three month Great American Cleanup. Keep Carrollton Beautiful is working with many schools, neighborhoods and corporate teams to supply smaller events during this time.

Thanks to Albertsons at Josey and Keller Springs and at Old Denton and Hebron the volunteers didn?t go away hungry. Albertsons thinks that ?it?s important to be good neighbors and give back to our communities?..to improve all of our lives?. As a great corporate citizen, they have supported Keep Carrollton Beautiful since its inception in 2004. ?I hope that the citizens of Carrollton won?t let this valuable asset get pushed out of our community by stiff competition? said the director of Keep Carrollton Beautiful.

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group?s representative, Bill Kirkland, has also been supporting Keep Carrollton Beautiful since its beginning. ?We (DPSG) have a proud, longstanding heritage of caring … for our consumers, our customers, our employees and our neighbors in the communities where we live and do business across the United States? caring is at the heart of our business, shaping our values and the importance we place on corporate social responsibility?? Dr. Pepper really helped out at the Trash-Off making sure none of the hard working volunteers went thirsty.

Keep Carrollton Beautiful could never accommodate so many volunteers without the loyal and enthusiastic support of the Carrollton Evening Lions Club. These Lions are some of the community?s most steadfast local servants. Their website says ?When it comes to meeting challenges, our response is simple: We serve?in regions battered by natural disaster, in schools and in eyeglass recycling centers, Lions are at work, helping, leading, planning and supporting?We want everyone to see a better tomorrow?we support vision screenings, eye banks and eyeglass recycling?We believe everyone deserves a healthy life?providing health programs for hearing loss, diabetes prevention and improving the health of children and adults around the world.? ?Our Carrollton Evening Lions Club lovingly cooks the best hot dogs in Texas! And always with a smile.? said Sharon Goddard.

Thanks to the many volunteers, this year?s Trash-Off was a roaring success. The people involved know who they are and are very much appreciated. If you?d like to help Keep Carrollton Beautiful, go to their website www.KeepCaroolltonBeautiful.org and join.

Another fun way you can help is by bidding on their Don?t Mess With Texas Trash-Off On-Line Auction. The auction will raise funds for their programs and you can still bid through April 8.
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