Conservationist dedicated to saving planet

Jerome Ringo is a conservationist at heart and a matchmaker in principle.

As a child, growing up along the Mississippi Bayou, Ringo fell in love with nature. He fell in love with all the gifts that the earth had to give and what it meant to savor every second of a good long walk.

“I became a conservationist at a very young age,” Ringo said. “That ethic of conservation was instilled in me long before it was common, attractive or sexy.”

That’s why he does what he does today. It’s why he works so hard to preserve what little natural spaces and resources we have left.

And he’s hoping that by sharing his stories he’ll teach everyone else to fall in love with nature, too. Because, when you truly love something, you’ll do whatever you can to protect it. You’ll hold on to it and never

ever let go.

“If we were all conservationists,” Ringo said. “If we all did what we should be doing to converse (our natural resources) there would not be a problem.”

The problem, Ringo said, is that there is problem.

The ice caps are melting. They are melting so fast in Greenland that the water collected in a single day could cover the entire state of Texas and still would be 13 feet deep.

Temperatures are rising. Since 1991, the hottest 10 years on record have been recorded.

The natural spaces left are disappearing. In Louisiana, that’s the literal truth. Every 40 minutes, the state loses an entire acre of land — the direct result of redirecting the Mississippi River.

It all sounds grim. And it is, Ringo said. There are many who believe that we already are “past the point of no return.” That’s there’s nothing we can to reverse course and save the planet.

Then, there are people like Ringo. People who refuse to give in and give up.

“There is hope,” Ringo said. “There is hope.”

Thursday night, Ringo spoke at Kent State University at Stark as part of school’s Featured Speaker Series about what it takes to keep that hope alive.

Hope, he said, is in the hands of the American people. People who demand better from themselves, their neighbors and their lawmakers. People who push for policy change and roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty by doing their own part to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“We have to take responsibility for what we have done,” Ringo said, “and we have to take responsibility for what we can do.”

Our greatest hope, Ringo said, is in the next generation.

To save the planet, you have to change the way the youngest residents of earth see it.

Children, especially, are inundated by media. Smart phones, computers and television have diverted their attention from the things that matter most. Digging in the dirt and growing your own vegetables. Going for a walk on a sunny day. Splashing in the puddles.

“We have to teach our children the value of the sun and the value of the wind,” Ringo said. “That’s what I can nature vs. Nintendo.”

But its going to take more than just parents to help children understand the value in the earth all around them. Earth science needs to be embraced in the school system and churches need to embrace the message of conversation.

“Churches are the centers of our communities,” Ringo said. “We need to get the message to the pulpits.”

We need to love and appreciate what we have now, shift our focus and act today to preserve all that we hold dear, all that we love about the world around us. We need to put aside our differences, put aside the politics and use our creativity to preserve our planet and create stronger, healthier communities.

“This isn’t a red-and-blue issue,” Ringo said. “This is red, white and blue.”