March 10, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For additional information, contact Marci Mowery at 717-236-7644 or [email protected].
What Does the Environmental Rights Amendment Mean to Pennsylvanians?
An Interactive Flipbook Compilation Is Now Available from PA Parks and Forests Foundation
Camp Hill, PA – After an invitation to Pennsylvanians to share their view on the importance of the Environmental Rights Amendment, the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation received an outpouring of poems, essays, photos, and songs in celebration of the legislation’s milestone 50th anniversary. A compilation of these works is now available for viewing and sharing.
Throughout 2021, PPFF called on Pennsylvanians to join in the celebration by participating in special monthly writing incentives, as well as ERA-themed photo and song contests. Essays and poetry in various forms; cinquain, haiku, and acrostic, were received. Hundreds of photos, taken from within PA’s 141 state parks and forests, were submitted depicting key components of the amendment. These included Clean Air, Pure Water, Natural Value, Scenic Value, Historic Value, Esthetic Value, as well as a Young Photographers category. PPFF also hosted its first-ever song contest to which musicians submitted their original songs expressing the importance of the amendment and how it empowers citizens with rights to healthy natural resources.
The compilation of these creative works is now available on PPFF’s website (PaParksAndForests.org) as an interactive flipbook and a downloadable PDF.
“It has been truly inspiring to receive such creative contributions from people all over the state,” said PPFF’s President Marci Mowery. “Our goal was to build awareness that all Pennsylvanians have environmental rights – and the outpouring of creativity demonstrates peoples’ connection to the environment, as well as to our state parks and forests.”
This year, 2022, brings another special occasion; the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. This provides an opportunity to showcase the aging water-related infrastructure in Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests – water and wastewater treatment plants, bridges, orphaned wells, and high-hazard dams – infrastructure needs that could be addressed through investments of the American Rescue Plan funding. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the role forests play in purifying the water supply through this year’s theme, “Clean Water and Forested Ecosystems”. Below are a few ways in which the public is invited to get involved in this effort.
- Be a voice and let your legislators know that investing in park and forest infrastructure is important to you.
- Get creative with PPFF’s monthly DIY paint-by-number water scenes or consider submitting to the 2022 Clean Water and Forested Ecosystems Photo Contest.
- Sign up to receive PPFF’s weekly e-blast for the latest news, blog posts, and upcoming events and follow along on social media for regular environmental education posts including weekly “creature features”.
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About the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation
The Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation supports 124 state parks and 2.2 million acres of forest by coordinating volunteers, activities, and donations through its 48 chapters. The mission of the foundation is to inspire stewardship of Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests. To learn more about PPFF, visit https://paparksandforests.org/.
To view the ERA Compilation flipbook, please visit https://paparksandforests.org/our-work/education/era50/.
Facebook: @PennsylvaniaParksAndForestsFoundation
Twitter: @PaPFF
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LinkedIn: Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation