Blue skies smilin at me
Don’t Take the PA Wilds for GrantedMy daughter, Linsey, is an English teacher in South Korea. Last month she came for a visit with our 9-month old granddaughter, Layna, and a 12-year-old student, Lily. This was Linsey’s first visit to the PA Wilds region and she was impressed by how clear and clean the sky is here. We were in the car and she told me the sky looks just like the Microsoft screen saver. Where she lives in Osan, outside of Seoul, they sometimes have poor air quality days because the west wind blows in from China where there is a lot of smog and yellow dust from the deserts in northern China and Mongolia.
I have lived here over a year and I have to admit I have started to take the beautiful skies for granted. According to the Moms Clean Air Force website, more than 4 in 10 people in the United States live in areas with unhealthy levels of smog. So poor air quality is a reality for many in this country, too. Our great drinking water supply is another thing I’ve taken for granted. Lily was amazed that she could drink water straight from the tap here. South Koreans have a long history of not drinking tap water, even though it is safe to drink. Most drink bottled water or install filters. I do have to say that the water here in St Marys is the best tasting water I have ever experienced in the many states that I have lived and worked in.
The Secure American Rivers website says that rivers provide clean drinking water to 1 in 3 Americans. With the rivers here either flowing to the Gulf of Mexico or the Eastern Seaboard, it is nice to be drinking water from the headwaters instead of heavily treated water from the end of the flow.So get out and enjoy the clean air and clean water that the PA Wilds have to offer and do your part to help keep them clean.
Follow
About Post Author
