What does the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States of America mean to me? Well, I’m old enough to remember the Bicentennial Anniversary celebration in 1976. I have a vague picture in my mind of the 4th of July parade in my hometown that year when I was 8 years old. I remember creaky red wagons decorated with red, white, and blue ribbons, fire trucks blaring, and clowns throwing candy, probably tootsie rolls and pixie sticks. I remember the thrill of finding a Bicentennial quarter, with a revolutionary drummer on the tail side, and even now I habitually look for them on the rare occasion that I receive coins. Most of all, I remember the feeling of the Bicentennial being something bigger than myself, more than I could explain or understand. I was 8 and ignorance was bliss.
The 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States feels very different to me. Of course I’m 50 years older, and the U.S. has evolved as I have evolved. In today’s political climate, I struggle to find anything to celebrate. In 2026, my state and federal governments wantonly squash human rights and bodily autonomy, cut science funding, strip scholarship opportunities from minorities, and cut healthcare to more than HALF of all Americans and Hoosiers, to mention only a drop in the bucket of harmful actions. Elected officials, who are supposed to use their positions to improve the lives of their constituents, regularly belittle and harm those that can’t protect themselves.
As an environmentalist, I feel I have even less to celebrate. As our governments try again and again to lease our public lands to the highest bidder, cancel green energy projects in support of fossil fuels, cause or encourage war and the resulting environmental degradation, boost unchecked data center development, and choose profit over people and the environment, I often feel overwhelming despair. We are not in a good place.
Yet, by falling into despair, I admit defeat. By falling into despair, I choose to prioritize the bad over the good, the success stories, the grit of human kind, and the resilience of our planet. By giving in to despair, I allow the actions of others to define me. On this 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, surrounded by stories of destruction and greed, I can choose to despair, or I can choose to look through the smoke and celebrate everything that is worth celebrating to me. So today, I choose to celebrate. Millions of people work hard every day to protect the earth and each other. That is worth celebrating.
I choose to celebrate that a Sierra Club lawsuit was able to stop the Endangered Species Act from being rescinded in 2026. One point! I choose to celebrate that the Chicago River is the cleanest it’s been in 200 years, clean enough even to swim in. Two points! I choose to celebrate the whip-poor-will that calls outside my back door every night and every morning like clockwork. Three points! I choose to celebrate that Indiana has the largest network of invasive plant species removal volunteer organizations in the entire country. Four points! I choose to celebrate that the people’s resistance movement against data centers nation-wide is working. Five points! I choose to celebrate that green energy now out-produces coal in the United States. Six points! I choose to celebrate that No Kings march attendances have been exponentially greater than inauguration attendances. Seven points! Okay, that one is not environmental, but I like it anyway. I choose to celebrate the fireflies flickering through the trees high, low, fast, and slow, around my house at dusk, like magic. They are miraculous and worth celebrating. Indiana has more than 45 species of firefly, by the way. Eight points! I choose to celebrate when I hear that invasive plant species education is working, and that more and more native plant beds are being planted across the country by homeowners, parks departments, and even highway departments. Nine points! I also choose to celebrate that the people I meet on the street every day are good people who continue to be kind and to care about the environment and the people around them. This is what will pull us through. One hundred points for that.
Jennifer Ehara
Winding Waters Group Executive Committee
and Hoosier Chapter Sierra Club Communications Team