A message from the Co-founder of Upstate Green Central Station
My love of our natural world and sense of stewardship were developed early in childhood. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania on 1.5 acres that were surrounded by cornfields, wheat fields, meadows, creeks, and woods dominated by towering maple and oak trees. The Indians once referred to our family’s little berg of 20-plus homes, as Arbor Valley. We knew our community better as Adamsville.
At a time when it was safe for kids to roam the neighborhood unattended, I wandered as often as possible on foot or pedaling my red bicycle, through pastures and woods or along dirt and paved roads, to play with my friends or attend school. Long before the sky was encumbered with air traffic, the only sounds, which broke the silence that engulfed us in our valley, were those made by cows, crickets, frogs and a tractor plowing the field. Although today there is less of the Natural world, and I live amidst the hustle and bustle of downtown Spartanburg, 586 miles away from wistful memories, the connection still remains. As an adult, I find solace in Nature’s ability to restore my sagging energy, which gets depleted by city noise, ringing cell phones, and an onslaught of invisible electromagnetic frequencies.
These musings reflect what I believe is the earliest foundation for my present mission to build a more sustainable community here in my Upstate home. By thinking green, smart and sustainably, and by using our “dollars and sense” to save energy, we can all take the kind of action that protects our finite Natural Resources, which like many others, I naively took for granted in my youth.
As the co-founder of the Upstate Green Central Station directory and East Main Street “Green Showroom” in The Phoenix, Nancy Riehle and I are heartfully working to build awareness and make it easy and simple for every Upstate resident and business owner to help create not only a more sustainable future for all but a resilient one as well. Please join our growing community!
Linda Sechrist