What do you think is the No. 1 issue affecting families?
Education? Health care? Economy/jobs?
It’s always tough to answer this type of question because they are ALL important.
Who doesn’t want their children to have a quality education? Who doesn’t hope for high quality, affordable health care? Who doesn’t need to put food on the table?
And so when the environment is on that list of big issues, it’s often overlooked. Even if you understand that climate change is real (and I really hope that the evidence of the entire scientific community has convinced you), it can be easy to kick this can down the road. It’s the equivalent of prioritizing a college or retirement savings account before paying the electric bill, buying groceries and getting your kids those much-needed braces. It’s just not as immediately pressing.
But here’s the thing … put it off long enough and you’re in trouble.
If you believe that you owe it to your children to do your part to leave the world as good, if not better, than what you inherited from your parents, then how can you not care about the health of our planet and – more specifically – the environmental issues affecting our Great Lakes State?
And so, while there are important and perhaps more pressing issues affecting Michigan families, we need to carve out some time to at least give some serious thought about the environmental issues affecting us.
In this month’s cover story, associate editor Jessica Schrader does just that. Don’t worry. This is no intense, overwhelming story on global warming and green house gasses. Instead, it’s our attempt to shed light on some of the top environmental issues affecting southeast Michigan in a way that’s easy for busy parents to digest – and act. That’s right. For each of the issues we highlight, we offer some suggestion for how you can make a difference in helping to preserve our beautiful state – not just for our own kids but for our grandkids, our great-grandkids and all of the generations after us.
Can you make a difference? You bet you can. Our individual efforts have ripples. You caring about this issue, taking steps to do your part to help, will pass this responsibility on to your kids, their friends, their families and so on. Your one action pays dividends that pay off for you, your kids, your family, your friends – for all of us.
