From the Editors: April 2024

Greg Rakozy

There is nothing that can make a human being feel less significant than a celestial event.

And we're about to experience a pretty humbling one right here in Erie on Monday, April 8 when the moon will align between the earth and the sun, dunking Erie into darkness for a few moments. The experience is disorienting, liminal, cosmic — birds quiet, the temperature drops, winds slow, and the planet Earth feels exactly like what it is: a giant rock spinning through space that has no human agenda whatsoever.

It feels both fitting and upsetting that this celestial event is happening during Earth Month, just two weeks before Earth Day. April is a month set aside to reflect and act upon the impact that human beings have on the health of our planet, and that impact is undeniably devastating. We've just, yet again, experienced our hottest summer on record and freak weather events are becoming the norm. As soon as we emerge from winter here in Erie, we'll be jumping right into wildfire season and the sun will be blocked out by a haze of smoke from Canada rather than the moon.

April also happens to be the month in which Pennsylvania's primary occurs this year — remember to get out and vote on April 23, which just so happens to be the day after Earth Day. While the efforts of nearly all of local, state, and national leaders (and potential leaders) have been lackluster in terms of climate action, there are candidates who will definitely set us back (which is something we unequivocally cannot afford). And as the partisanship chasm grows deeper and deeper (as described in detail by Jeff Bloodworth this month), one can certainly feel helpless in our collective ability to make meaningful change. However, within this issue, one local climate advocacy organization PennFuture and its campaign manager offer up a number of ways that local citizens can get involved and work towards change on the local level — whether that's pushing to make our streets greener or speaking out at climate-related community input sessions.

As we all experience the eclipse together, standing side by side on this giant ball hurtling through space, may we all feel a little more connected to it and to each other. The world will keep on spinning with or without us, so let's do our best to make sure we hang on for the ride.