Back in 1969, U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis., began a crusade to have a day set aside each year to teach Americans about the environment and the importance of conserving tour planet's natural resources.
Nelson invited a Republican colleague, U.S. Rep. Pete McCloskey of California, to join the effort.
Over the next year, the two were joined by other Americans concerned about the environment. The fledgling movement picked up steam, especially on college campuses across the nation.
It quickly got out of control. A date was set and on April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was held.
Today marks the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day and this year's theme is "Invest In Our Planet. What Will You Do?"
And that's our question of the week. Are you and your family doing anything special for Earth Day this year? On a broader scale, have you changed any of your daily activities, product or service provider choices or the like because of how they affect the environment?
Send your response (50 words maximum) to [email protected] by Wednesday, April 27. You can also mail your response to the Texarkana Gazette Friday Poll, at P.O. Box 621, Texarkana, TX 75504 or drop it off at our office, 101 E. Broad St, Texarkana, Ark. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. We will print as many responses as we can in next Friday's paper.
Last Week: Student Loans?
Last week's question was about student loan forgiveness. Should some amount of student loan debt be forgiven? Or are you against the idea?
Absolutely, pay off the student loans. These people are trying to better themselves and the future of our country. If universities and colleges would stop paying coaches these ridiculous salaries and when they're not happy with them they pay out their contracts to get rid of them, maybe universities could reduce the tuitions that students have to pay.
Also, maybe if multi-millionaires and billionaires would do something ethical with their money and pay student loans off that would be great. Instead, they want to plunk down $42 billion cash to buy Twitter or spend millions on going to space for 6 minutes. We're sending millions overseas for aid, aid also needs come home, too. -- R.K., Texarkana, Texas
From facebook.com/texarkanagazette
- Every person who went to college and earned a degree should get money back! Some of us paid the college debt in its entirety!
- Student loans should not be forgiven. There are other ways to pay for school. If anything raise the amount of grants given to students. I have one going off to college this year and she busted her button to get scholarships and applied for all the grants she could get.
- I vote NO on student loan forgiveness.
- I vote yes cause I am also drowning in student loans.
- Complicated, tough question. Pluses and minuses. IDK. Doubting that Congress will agree to forgive student debt. They might agree to some formula to reduce the debt, based on ability to pay. But future loans should be based on expected earning potential. What a mess.
- I worked my way through college and received grants and scholarships. We also paid off student loans for three children. These students knew these were loans and would have to be paid back, so the loans should not be forgiven. This is mostly a political ploy to buy votes. I also believe college cost have risen so much because they spend more money on making the colleges look and feel like resorts to appeal to kids instead of emphasizing education.
- More democratic welfare.
- College prices for middle class students are now impossible to afford. It was different years ago. Now, if you are a good student with a solid GPA, but no scholarships and do not qualify for lower income grants, going to college is too expensive. I don't know about forgiving all loans, but partial might be good until the prices are more realistically affordable.
- I worked 3 jobs while in college, after college 2 to make ends meet! It wasn't until my Father passed away that I paid it off with inheritance! I paid on it for 20 yrs before that! So NO! I think it should be interest free or a low interest rate!
- The real question is: If the government can print endless amounts of money, why do we need taxes?
- "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury." (Alexander Tytler)
- Against the idea.
- Another government giveaway.