thenorphletpaperboy: EARTH MONTH

thenorphletpaperboy: EARTH MONTH:                                     Earth Month The 50 th anniversary of Earth Day and Arbor Day are in April, which gives us two...

EARTH MONTH

                                Earth Month

The 50^th anniversary of Earth Day and Arbor Day are in April, which gives us two very special days to focus on our environment. But first, before we talk about Earth Day, let’s look at a hands-on practical way to celebrate…by doing an Earth Day project.

Have you ever considered whether your yard has a positive or negative effect on the environment? Today, all across America we are moving back toward a greener country, but in our yard’s landscaping, we are ignoring the basic essentials to make that space compatible with our natural surroundings. When we remove honeysuckle and blackberry vines that look unkempt and snaky, we remove the animals that depend on the berries for food and the birds and small mammals that hide in the brambles. 

Worldwide, our songbird population is plummeting, and we are seeing plant and animal extinction at a rate only surpassed by the great dinosaur extinction. There are many reasons for this alarming decline in species, but one of the prime causes is loss of habitat due to urban development. We must reverse this trend, and I believe we can by some simple habitat management, and by agreeing to share our yard with wildlife. If you will share some of your yard, by restoring the natural habitat it once had, you can help solve the problem.

Here are a few ideas that will let you convert a small piece of your sterile, green yard into an attractive, wildlife compatible yard. 

The most critical part of your yard is the backyard. Think of the back 20 feet as your habitat contribution.  This area will give birds and small animals shelter and food as they enter your yard.  Just consider the habitat benefits if your 20 foot wildlife corridor were connected to your neighbor’s backyard to form a 40 foot corridor, which connected to your adjacent neighbor’s yard. That should be our goal: to give small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects access to food and safety. However, you must give Mother Nature a hand.  First, you should plant a grove of nut or berry producing trees along the very back edge of the lot.  Then edge the grove with berry bushes of varying heights and species.  Mow and weed this area very lightly.  In fact, your goal should be to allow this area to slowly return to its natural state. 

Next, along the sides of your lot, continue with more hedgerow type plants, along with berry bushes.  In the adjacent open areas, allow native grasses and wildflowers to reclaim a portion of the area.  In order to achieve the proper balance, you must plant the wildflowers and native grasses.  Finally, in a back corner of your yard, create a small pond.  When you build your pond, set it in a natural drainage area, possibly one that would receive runoff from your roof.  When building your pond, don't be concerned about the size.  A 6 foot by 10 foot pond is adequate.  The pond depth should be around 3 feet in its deepest part and feather out to 2 inches to 6 inches in depth on one end.  I recommend a thin layer of cement to slow seepage. After construction, add 4 inches of dirt and rocks to cover the concrete. Your construction should allow a natural drainage spill point to carry excess water into the wooded back portion of your lot.  Stock your pond with minnows (for mosquito control) and Mother Natural will do the rest.

Finally, leave a mowed strip along your front sidewalk to keep your neighbors happy.

Your new yard now has the three criterion that makes for small wildlife habitat: woodland, wetland, and grassland. Wouldn’t that be a great way to celebrate Earth Day?

                                                 &

 Now let’s talk about Earth Day. 

On April 22^nd we will celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day. Fifty years ago an estimated twenty-two million Americans turned out to show their determination to save our planet. The air, water, and land pollution present in 1970s was so horrible that the Earth Day marches kicked off a wave of reform, which produced huge, positive strides to reverse the pollution of our planet. When we compare our environment today with the 1970s, we can easily see how much pollution was reduced. This massive outpouring of people created an awareness of how we needed trougher regulations, and how each individual could help to reduce the pollution of the planet.

During the 60s and 70s New York City had smoggy days that resemble what major cities in China and India have today. The water in New York City’s East River was so polluted that it created a lifeless pool of stagnant water, which actually smelled, and in Chicago a river caught on fire. Our leaders, who crafted the laws that resulted from that first Earth Day March, received a wakeup call from the vast numbers who marched. Congress passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and our air and water has improved dramatically since then.

Yes, those who marched in the streets to support the first Earth Day made a huge difference. However, as much as we have gained over those 50 years, a great deal of it will be lost if we don’t demand our existing regulations be enforced and more stringent ones passed. Today is not the time to sit back and say, “Job well done.” We have just began to correct the environmental disasters that were created over the past 100 years. If we will once again attack the attitudes that created the degraded environment of the 70s, we can build on what was started fifty years ago.

 Although we have come a long way from the polluted 70s, we haven’t finished the job.  Today we are faced with new challenges such as Global Warming and the continuing extinction of thousands of species. We should celebrate our success with the realization that, while many of the problems of the past are history, others have reared their ugly heads, and if we don’t confront them, our children and grandchildren will live in a degraded world. The challenge is to once again support Earth Day, and make our voices heard.

This 50^th Year Anniversary of Earth Day is a perfect time to renew our goal, which is, very simply, to restore our damaged planet. We must gear up to bring a worldwide message that the Earth is in danger, and we want to be a part of the people who are determined to save it. Yes, we can make a difference just as those millions who marched that first Earth Day did, and we can use our influence to encourage others to be involved. We can’t march this year, but let’s make our voices heard again. I would like to see us flood this paper with Earth Day Letters to the Editor. I’ll ask the editor in charge of that section to print every letter on Earth Day. Wouldn’t it be great if Earth Day letters took up a whole page of the paper?

Send your Letters www.arkansasonline.com/contact/voices-form/ and join the “letter march” to show you care.

thenorphletpaperboy: RESTORE HOPE

thenorphletpaperboy: RESTORE HOPE:       Restore Hope, a Success Story Restore Hope is an organization that is tackling two serious problems in our state –incarceratio...

RESTORE HOPE

      Restore Hope, a Success Story

Restore Hope is an organization that is tackling two serious problems in our state –incarceration and foster care. To do so, they are focusing on reducing the repeat incarceration rate in our state’s prisons and the resulting placement of children into foster care. This organization is helping communities organize a collaborative intervention of government agencies, nonprofits, and local businesses. The coalition directly addresses the problems justice-involved families face upon being released from prison, having a child welfare case opened, or even being unable to pay a misdemeanor traffic ticket. In the past the men and women in these situations were unable to do simple things such as get a Driver’s License or reliable transportation to keep steady employment.

Paul Chapman, executive director of Restore Hope Arkansas, said his organization was started by Gov. Asa Hutchinson after he took office in 2015. The Restore Hope website states the purpose was to bridge a gap between government services and communities struggling to reduce the incarceration rate, facilitate a successful re-entry from incarceration to freedom, and reduce how many children are entering Arkansas' foster care system. Chapman’s overview of the program gives an outline of how Restore Hope works: "What we believe and what the research shows is that the types of problems that we all gathered here today to discuss are so complex, that not one organization, governmental or non-governmental, can actually make the kinds of changes that we all hope to make that, because we all operate in silos to our authorities, whatever they may be like without really any mechanisms to partner together, we have this execution gap," Chapman said at the Feb. 11 meeting in Crawford County. Restore Hope tackles these situations in a hand-on approach to solve the problems faced by newly released prisoners.

One of the primary reasons of prison population growth is the high number of repeat offenders, who for a variety of reasons return to prison. The Restore Hope program is targeted to provide assistance to released prisoners to keep them from being sent back to prison for breaking probation or committing other crimes. Many of the crimes or reasons for breaking probation are because these men and women don’t have access to the resources we have available. Restore Hope works to help them acquire what these individual need in order to live a meaningful life outside of prison.

After extensive planning, Restore Hope developed programs to train the recently released prisoners a trade and help them get a job. However, a closer look at the needs of these men and women revealed that a big factor after getting training and hired was having a driver’s license. By not having a car to drive to work was such a contributing factor, that just solving it made a huge difference in the lives of these men and women ability to live a normal productive life. Restore Hope volunteers work directly with these men and women to overcome problems such as these.

One of the initial goals of Restore Hope started with a 100 Families Initiative that is to preserve or reunite families. The various programs help families move "from crisis to career" using existing community resources, according to a page on the website for Restore Hope Arkansas. This is accomplished by engaging community partners, training agencies on a collaborative case management system, and recruiting case managers to respond when a family is in crisis. Restore Hope provides the coordination and infrastructure in which the community carries out the work of the initiative.

Executive Director Chapmen comments, "As we were putting people in jail and in prison for infractions, a lot of them were for parole and probation technical violations. So, it wasn't for a new crime or new convictions. It was the inability to meet the demands of the supervision that the individuals were already on."

That was the challenge that was met head-on by the 100 Family Program.

Two people who have benefited from the services provided by the 100 Families Initiative are Fort Smith residents Amanda Myer and her husband, Patrick, who joined the program last July. Beforehand, their two children had been taken by the state Department of Human Services after the couple were arrested and failed drug tests. Amanda Myer said after she and Patrick got out of jail the next day, a department caseworker put her in touch with Ms. Phillips, and the Restore Hope hands-on approach began.

"We started the DHS requirements [through the initiative], such as ... parenting classes and a psych evaluation, and drug and alcohol therapy," Myer said. "But we just kind of felt like we needed some more support from the community." At the time, Myer said Patrick was in school while she was working part time. Having just one source of income caused the pair to fall behind on some of their bills. However, Phillips helped them apply for rental assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and get utility help.

"We kept meeting with her, and we would go to her even if we just needed somebody to talk to, which happened a lot," Myer said. "When we started getting home visits, we needed a crib for our 2-year-old because before she had always just slept with us and that was one of the requirements that DHS had, so she had someone from the Care Portal that works with 100 Families bring us a crib that day to our house. They delivered it to us and everything."

Myer said their children returned in a trial home placement in September, and they regained custody Dec. 12. She and Patrick also got married on Aug. 23, two days before their first unsupervised visit with their children. In addition, Patrick completed his education and found work as a refrigeration technician. She believes that, without Restore Hope’s 100 Families Program, their situation could have turned out differently.

 "It's hard to go through this process on your own, so having that support is really helpful," Myer said. "And it's something that I'd really like to see other areas of Arkansas and the country take on because ... there's a lot of judgment automatically when you have a DHS case open, and to get that kind of support and have people that want to help you and want to fix it and don't just say, 'Well, you got your kids taken,' I think that's really crucial in improving everybody.”

By utilizing all three of the Restore Hope proven solutions, there has been an unprecedented success in Sebastian County. In two years, the number of children in foster care has decreased by 32%, the inmate population by 19%. These efforts are impacting an entire community.

In 2019 Restore Hope had direct contact with over 3,000 lives. That number represents a huge commitment by Restore Hope caseworkers and volunteers who have devoted untold hours to be a helping hand…when no one else was there to help.

            Restore Hope is living up to its name.