>My husband and I went on a hike and picnic to Palmyra Cove Nature Park in New Jersey. By the brochure’s description, it’s “a 350 acre island of green in a densely populated area on the Delaware River just south of the Pennsylvania/New Jersey line. It’s comprised of “woodlands, wetlands, tidal cove, and wild river shoreline, and serves as an important feeding site for migratory birds.” That’s the official description.

For us, and so many others, it’s a little piece of heaven and respite from urban life in an all too commercialized world. And it’s under attack.

The Army Corps of Engineers (a/k/a the Federal government) along with the New Jersey State government want to take 70 additional acres of this natural habitat (they already have 25)and use it to dump yet more dredge materials from the Delaware River in support of maintaining the commerce route between Philadelphia and Trenton.

Ahhhh…in the name of progress. Or, is it in the name of money?

When we lived in Pennsylvania it was to take 200 year old farm land to build a WalMart. Now it’s to maintain commerce. There’s always an economic reason. My mother lives in southern Florida and it’s a “wasteland” of strip malls and furniture stores and condominium complexes to the demise of the Everglades.

I don’t know why we humans think we are disconnected from the natural environment. Or that we can do with it as we please without a reverberating impact. Perhaps it’s because we think we are disconnected from each other and it all starts there.

Just as “there is only One of Us”…a multitude of “branches” all emanating from one “trunk”…so there is only One of Us when it comes to the Earth. All living things are interconnected and interdependent. To ignore this reality is to go the path of the Everglades.

This is not news.  For decades environmentalists and all people who “get” our connection to one another and the planet have been raising awareness about the dangers of humankind’s insatiable taking without giving back. And so often the question is “What can one individual do against the powers that be?” My answer is that each of us has a voice and a choice. 

Today I choose to use my voice in this blog to state my opposition to the taking of land from Palmyra Cove for dredge material. I will choose to contact the head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network to see what further help I can provide. I will choose to contact my state representatives as well as my Congressman and Senators via phone and let them know my opposition. And, finally, I will talk with everyone I can about the matter and try and raise awareness and other voices.

Barry Manilow has a great song titled “One Voice.” It’s all about the power of what one voice can do. The song starts out with just his voice solo, and by the end it’s raised to a powerful crescendo of voices that makes you want to just get up and do something…anything. You just want to move.

That’s the power of one, committed, voice. So remember, the next time you wonder what you can do about something that you feel is important, use your voice and your choice.

When you do, I’m sure you’ll feel as good as I do right now.

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