Our third submission
for the day is from Veronica Del Bianco, a 4-H Agent at LSU Agcenter. Find out
how Veronica is working to spread the message of interdependence everyday!

There are
certain places in the world where the population is more aware of their geography
than others, and New Orleans, Louisiana is definitely one of them.  We sit below sea level surrounded by water –
fresh, brackish, and salt. Each day the Gulf of Mexico creeps closer and the
mighty Mississippi River flows by.  We
are the bottom of the basin that drains 41% of the continuous United States,
that’s 31 states and two Canadian provinces. 

Living in
Louisiana we are well aware of our interdependence on each other because nature
– especially water- does not know political boundaries. It just goes with the
flow. 

But the
problem is that the Mississippi River brings along with it the decisions of
others in the form of pollutants like pesticides, fertilizers, and sewage.  

As a 4-H Agent and passionate environmental educator, this is one of the many lessons I try to impart to my kids.  That the actions they take will have short-term and long-term effects, and that there are other stakeholders to take into account. They need to understand the consequences of their decisions.  Teaching youth to think beyond themselves can make them good environmentalists, but even more important, it makes them better citizens.

Playing in the dirt. The winning team examines a soil profile from within a soil pit at the 2012 Louisiana Envirothon.

Programs like Canon Envirothon and the Louisiana Youth Wetlands Program are not only the embodiment of my passion but the bridge that lets me pass it on and share it with others. Because passion, like love, does not dwindle when shared but explodes.