Tuesday, November 2, 2010

This Land is Our Land...

Today is a good time to reassess what is important in our lives and in our county. For me, our natural resources- and nature's beauty- ranks high on that list. It is our right and privilege as Americans to protect (and gladly pay taxes for) our natural areas.




Chagrin Falls- great natural beauty can be found even within our cities. The wise planners of this city capitalized on the falls and promoted their most scenic natural feature. Too often we do not stop to realize, Ohioans are fortunate to have so much biodiversity to appreciate and revere. From the hills of Shawnee to the waters of Lake Erie, Ohio's nature may seem boundless and endless to us. But it is a fragile beauty- easily scarred by man's greed.




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A recent trip out west illuminated the importance of America's open spaces and protected lands. International tourists comprised nearly 60-75% of the traffic we found in the National Parks, like Grand Canyon (shown here) and Zion. German, French and Japanese tourists travel half way around the world to see the vast open spaces and grander of America. Nothing of this scale can be found in their counties.

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Ohio's inland sea, Lake Erie is one of the United States' greatest bodies of fresh water. The Wall Street Journal just noted 10 major cities in our country are running out of water, and we barely note our abundance of clean, fresh H2O. We better be "invested" in our lake. If we do not protect and preserve it for the future, there will be no future. Clean water is a necessity we cannot live without.
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This is the only drilling I want to see on our shores.

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Lakeside Daisy is a federally endangered plant, preserved on the rocky outcroppings of Marblehead, Ohio. Ohio's biodiversity is a gift we all must protect for future generations.
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Living free, breathing clean air, drinking pure water and abiding in concert with flora and fauna does not happen without good planning and protection.
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Live, be happy... and vote well.

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