I took this photo about three years ago on Independence Day at the US Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Growing up in the D.C. area we called this statue the Iwo Jima memorial to commemorate the World War II battle on a Japanese island. Today we celebrate all the people in the military who sacrificed their lives fighting for our freedom!

This weekend completes the sixth year of this website blog for Conserve & Pro$per that began on Memorial Day 2015. In that initial blog, I posed the question, “is our freedom truly sustainable if we lack the basic necessities of water, food, and shelter?” I provided the website purpose, "to share my 30+ years of experience working in the environmental science field. I aspire to inform and share ideas on how we can all live on planet Earth by conserving precious resources, eating healthier food, breathing cleaner air, and creating a smaller footprint.”

It’s estimated that about 2 million Americans do not have access to running water and basic plumbing. Over 34 million Americans live in poverty and one in four people experienced food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The fight against the virus during the first year claimed an estimated 3600 health care workers in America. We need to have a memorial for their sacrifices too.

On Memorial Day 2016, I shared some of my parents experiences living through World War II including how the government wanted everyone to ration goods to help the soldiers and created messages like, "Do with less so they'll have enough."

After the Second World War, America helped rebuild Europe with the Marshall Plan and we've enjoyed sustainable freedom for over 70 years through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as I discussed in 2018.

My parents experience living through past wars and the Great Depression taught my family to be frugal, save and find ways to reuse items as described in 2019. My Dad reused plastic gallon jugs by opening the tops to turn them into tool holders or for storing hardware and magazines.

Last year in 2020, I discussed the pandemic and how we need to have courage to speak the truth as we know it, share compassion and courage with others, pray for everyone to come together to seek Nature’s balance and make our world habitable for all life.

The rapid spread of coronavirus continues to show us how interconnected and interdependent the world is on each other and on Nature. I am grateful to all the people who have made sacrifices in wars and health care battles so we may continue to survive and thrive.