Friday, July 24, 2009

Los Cerritos Community News Column focuses on Taking Back our Precious Planet from Toxic Polluters!



Econo-My-Scene: Cleaning Up our Planet started with a Buzz in the air!


By Randy Economy


I was 9 years old when Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first two men to walk on the Moon back in the Summer of '69.


My family moved to the Eastside of Cerritos one year earlier, and we were surrounded by cows and corn fields. We held an "Out of This World Block Party" with all of our neighbors and friends for that special day. We watched in wonderment. Before our very eyes, we saw two men walk on the moon.
It was more than just one small step. It was the day that changed Mankind, forever.
A couple of years later, when I was attending Carmenita Junior High School in 1971, one of those precious, rare moon rocks paid a grand visit to our campus.
I stood in a long line, and touched the Heavenly rock that was guarded by members of the Military and local law enforcement. I remember how sharp and coarse and dense the jagged rock felt.
We actually had to have our parents sign a letter saying it was okay for us to be in the same room with the moon rock, just "in case" it might contained something "mysterious" or "hazardous" to our well being.
Fast forward 25 years later in 1994: I was working in the cable television industry and was attending a Discovery Channel party honoring Aldrin to commemorate the 15th Anniversary of Apollo 11,
under the stars at the awe inspiring Griffith Park Observatory.
While standing in line for dinner, I looked over my shoulder, and lo' and behold, there he was. The Man. The Astronaut. Captain Buzz Aldrin. I shook his hand, hugged him, and thanked him for being my inspiration. I thanked him for empowering me and others to be the "Keepers of our Planet."
The "Ecology" Movement began here in Cerritos in the early 1970's.
We became an "Urban Forrest," we recycled our "reclaimed" water, made our new city hall operate on solar energy panels. The ABC Unified School District taught us about our local environment. We marched in our streets to make sure that the County of Los Angeles build more green space here, instead of more houses and industrial areas.
Sadly, we made a huge mistake back then, and today we must "right" those "wrongs" of our past.
We allowed major parts of our bedroom community to become the "home" to some mega smoke-stacking chemical producers, and toxic metal processors, and federal government fuel tank farms.
We sat silent and forgot the importance of protecting our precious Earth. We forgot to question if these businesses in an area I have named "Toxic Triangle" at Carmenita/Alondra/Firestone Frontage Road were in the "very best interest" of our health.
We forgot the importance of checking public records to see what's going on "inside" these plants. We forgot that it is our responsibility to keep tabs on these businesses, not just the government.
So, now IS the TIME for the People to take control of our local environment, once again. It's time for a new commitment right here in Cerritos, and Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, and in The Gardens.
We can't move mountain's by using spoons.
We need determination, and the courage to fight the good fight, and a plan to help keep our precious Mother Earth alive for generations to follow.
Your thoughts?
Drop me a note to RREconomy@aol.com.
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