Hunkered Down? Read us online, too!
These are times that try our souls. Life as usual has been postponed or canceled due to Covid-19. Even as we would like to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, our planet has been brought to its knees by the spread of this deadly virus. This pandemic brings to light the fact that we live in a global society. Viruses like climate change know no borders, no ethnicity, no sexual orientation, no political party or religious affiliation. The pain is being felt by all as we hunker down, wash our hands, practice social distancing, and stay home to wait this out. Many events have been canceled or postponed including our Spring Natural Living Expo which was scheduled for March 29. We will let you know when we are holding our next expo once it’s safe for people to mingle once again. The postponement of the St. Louis Earth Day Festival was the first act of new earthday365 Executive Director Dr. Jessica Watson. The rescheduled date is October 18 in Tower Grove Park. There will be a virtual celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day at www.earthday-365.org from April 18-26. So many other events and small businesses have been affected by this heath crisis. This is a frightening time for many businesses, families, communities and the critically ill. When the dust clears, I urge you to support local businesses and organizations like you have never done before. Hopefully many will still be around, but some may not have the financial reserves to weather this storm. It is so important to realize that we are all in this together. Yes, it is mainly the old and sick that are succumbing to this virus, but new facts and figures show that even young adults can be inflicted. And if not inflicted, you can become a carrier of the deadly coronavirus that you can unknowingly spread to your elderly parents or grandparents. This is a time for great personal responsibility and sacrifice not seen since the second-world war. Everyone needs to stay vigilant and keep your distance between one and other. If you are sick, stay at home unless you need immediate hospitalization. We hope you will continue to live a healthy life as best you can during these times of great trial. The Healthy Planet magazine will continue to publish as best we can, and for now you can still pick us up at the grocery stores and other sites. But keep in mind that this might be a good time to start to read us online. You can go to our website www.thehealthyplanet.com and click on our virtual edition to see our page-turning issue, or you can easily read all the great articles each month in easy-to-read text version online as well. We hope the federal government’s stimulus package will be enough to help those individuals who have lost their jobs and those small businesses in dire need. I want to thank my old friend Mary Engelbreit who shared her artwork for our Earth Day cover. During these hard times, we hope Mary’s art will at least temporarily put a smile on your face. Also, during this time of social-distancing, don’t let your personal isolation keep you from checking on an elderly neighbor who might need a healthy friend to run to the store for them. And thank you to all the health care providers, the grocery store workers and the first responders who come face to face with exposure every day just to keep us healthy and fed. Together we can get through this and discover just how strong we are as a nation and as a planet.
Stay Safe & Read Us Online, J.B. Lester; Publisher