Sustainability

No one has written more eloquently about the need for sustainability than the late Theodore Hesburgh, who died in 2015 at 97. He was for 35 years the president of the University of Notre Dame and was involved in numerous scientific and humanitarian initiatives in the U.S. and worldwide. Here are some excerpts from an essay he wrote for a book called "Living Philosophies:

"For me, one of the greatest results of the space program is the picture of our earth from the moon.

“There we are, on a perfect jewel of a globe, blue, brown and flecked with white clouds. No artificial boundaries,

no political or ideological differences, no hatreds, no power struggles, no military strategies visible. Just one earth, the human habitat, home. ...

“We do not have clean air and water so that we can pollute them with every manner of life-destroying substance. We do not have the equilibrium of climate so that we can disturb it by burning fossil fuels that create a carbon dioxide cover that will overheat the planet….

“It is time, I think, for all of us to think of dual citizenship. We are all proud citizens of the nation in which we were born. But, I think, we must increasingly consider ourselves as being citizens of the world. I do.

“This would require that we commit ourselves, our lives, whatever talents or time we possess, to do something about the monumental injustices that exist, in our own country and elsewhere. Until we do this the world has little hope for peace.”

Here in Pottstown, we all have a role to play — to show respect for the environment, and for each other, in our own small Schuylkill River habitat.

Here are some other perspectives: