Beeb taught me how to be a bird-watcher. He showed me how to make our yard an environment that is welcoming to birds and wild life, and he taught me to enjoy the seashore without damaging the fragile eco-system it supports.

As an adult I can fully appreciate what I learned at Beeb’s knee, and I now understand how he marveled at the simple beauty of our natural world. From the sparrows at the feeder to the bluefish on the end of his fishing pole to the deer grazing in our flower garden, Beeb understood how they all had a role to play in this terrarium we know as planet Earth. To him, the opportunity to observe, and sometimes participate in, the activities of the wildlife surrounding us was a gift from God. A gift, he would remind us, that we must cherish so it will be here for the next generations to enjoy.

Taking care of a special gift is not a once a year endeavor. It is an everyday task, privilege even, to make sure that our human activities do not unnecessarily harm our natural resources. At Vivid Visions Photo-Graphics we take this privilege seriously, and are pleased to be certified as Premier level members of Greener Photography.

As a Greener Photography member, we seek every opportunity to conserve our natural resources while we undertake the just as important business of preserving our clients’ special memories. And you know what? It’s easy and it feels good.

I hope you, dear reader, will take a few moments today to think about how you can leave the world a better place. Then tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, please do just one thing to lessen your impact on this planet. Celebrate Earth Day every day.

Beeb would be so grateful.

Perhaps in 1970 our society was still bit too conservative in their collective thinking to recognize what we as a society needed to do to conserve natural resources. Back then, the bottom line seemed to matter more than anything-certainly resource conservation did not seem to be the serious matter it is today.

In 2009, we are seeing that resource conservation is indeed critical to our bottom line.  Car maker GM is facing possible bankruptcy, and one reason is that they are behind the times in developing alternative fuel vehicles. Maybe if they had spent time  developing the hybrids instead of a better, bigger SUV, they wouldn’t be in the predicament they have found themselves in.

The good news for us as individuals is that our bottom line, and our carbon footprint can really see an impact by practicing simple conservation. Experts say that the most dramatic effect on reducing carbon emissions will be through simple energy conservation measures implemented in homes and businesses.

• Replace your household light bulbs with energy efficient ones
• Turn off lights and appliances when they are not in use
• Unplug the battery charger when not in use
• Turn off your computer overnight, or at the very least, turn off the monitor.
• Drive 55 MPH-it really does conserve fuel!
• Buy produce locally at farm stands and farmers markets. It’s fresher, tastes better and doesn’t use as much fuel to transport because it isn’t being trucked across the country.
• Use reusable grocery bags
• Recycle and reuse what you can

Of course these methods won’t show much impact to your bottom line or your carbon footprint if you just try these for a single day.  You must make EVERY day Earth Day to really make a difference.

Here are some more things you can do to celebrate Earth Day all year long

And few other links to learn more about energy conservation:

Earth911
Repower America

Do you know other ways to conserve resources?  Post them in the comments.