I spent the morning on Earth Day 2006 with my hands deep in Juncus Effusus and Scirpus Atrovirens, pulling, digging, pushing. In some ways, there's nothing more satisfying that connecting with the Earth in such a direct and unambiguous way. You're excused if you don't realize that these are Soft Rush and Green Bulrush respectively, and that they are wetland plants. I was participating in a City effort to establish a wetland in Cambridge's Little Fresh Pond bordering the golf course to improve water quality and biodiversity in the area.

While I took great enjoyment and pride in my effort that Saturday morning, it does not take a genius to realize that my participation was at such a small scale when compared to the overall requirements we face in protecting and preserving our environment. Cambridge, of course, is well positioned to be a leader in this field, which they should strive to be. Leadership can take many forms. Undoubtedly, new ways of approaching old problems will be required. Sometimes policy changes are needed. Sometimes new technology makes the difference. Sometimes a better understanding of how environmental systems work is the key. Many times it’s a combination of all of these.

Here are some areas that are of interest to me, either because we�re breaking new ground in our understanding, or because we should be:

Bio-engineering: Efforts such as the creation of a wetland at Little Fresh Pond are interesting and ground-breaking, and they cause us to rethink how we treat that most precious of resources: water. As the saying goes, "where there is water, there is life", and our understanding of how nature cleans and processes water is just developing. It will continue to develop so long as cities pursue bio-remediation techniques for this irreplaceable resource.

Green Energy: Clean forms of energy are absolutely critical to our future. Currently, "green" power options such as wind and solar are quite limited. That needs to change. Our region's main residential energy provider, NSTAR, has been slow to offer consumers the option to buy green energy for their home. For a market such as Cambridge, this doesn't make sense. Hull, on the South Shore, already has one wind turbine up and running, and has another one on the way. Towns across the Commonwealth are looking into this clean and renewable source of power.

The City of Cambridge has committed to have 20 percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2010. That is a good move that will have long-term implications. It can clean up the air we breathe, and it can encourage more power providers to switch over to providing green energy as well. But the City should not wait three years to implement this commitment. They should start now, and phase in this new program immediately. We need the immediate positive environmental impact of cleaner sources and we need to set the standard for cleaner fuel sources and greater efficiency in the future. The sooner we start, the more we will be able to accomplish in the long run. Furthermore, Cambridge’s actions will be noticed.

Reduced auto-dependence: Nationwide, rising fuel prices are forcing people to consider alternative ways to get around. In auto-dependent Los Angeles, for example, ridership on their new public transit train service has risen 17 percent in the last year alone. Cambridge has been working on this issue as well. Ultimately, it all boils down to how we treat the automobile. The pre-eminent position we have created for this four-wheeled technology over the past century will have to change in this next century. Simply put, we�re going to have to rethink how personal passenger cars ought to function in cities. Starting small is always a good strategy when addressing a huge problem. An exciting effort called Green Streets Cambridge launched a

Walk/Ride Day that urged parents and children to find another way to get to school other than in an automobile. This monthly effort builds environmental awareness amongst the youngest members of our community while showing the rest of us that there are other ways to meet our transportation needs.

While many of these efforts sprung up on their own, they show one of the great contributions of Earth Day � it builds awareness of all that's being done, and all that needs to be done. The many activities, from my time tromping around in a future wetland to all the children who rode a bike to school to the efforts of many to promote alternate fuel sources all point to one truth: awareness is the first step for action. The efforts of private citizens and public institutions alike to protect the eco-system that supports us all is not just an opportunity to feel good about oneself. It’s an absolute necessity. Each of our individual actions may seem small in the larger picture, but it takes all of us, added together, to make the difference we need.

We should not wait for another Earth Day to find some way to get involved.