This was written by New Hampshire State Representative Tara Sad:
I am not a mom. But I see what it means to be a mother – you’re a chauffeur, cheerleader, and champion for your children. I know how much you love your kids. And I know how important it is to you that they are protected from harm. This is why I am serving in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
Before moving almost twenty-five years ago to the small town of Walpole, New Hampshire (one of the most beautiful places on earth), I lived in Los Angeles, California. There, I would drive to work along with the millions of other commuters on the concrete freeways and surface streets that crisscrossed the vast and sprawling city and suburbs. Miles and miles of cars and trucks, emitting noxious fumes into the air. It was palpable. You could taste it.
And you could see it – orange sky, sunlight not able to penetrate the smog. But unless you’ve lived there, you don’t really know the fear you experience when you hear the newscasters warn of smog levels so high on certain days that seniors and children are advised not to go outside. The fear you experience when you see people walking down the streets wearing medical facemasks as protection from the poisons in the air.
People were getting sick, and people were dying. And especially vulnerable were the children.
When my husband and I moved to Walpole, I breathed pure air for the first time in fifteen years. I could once again gaze at a blue sky unfiltered by the pollutants I’d been so used to seeing. And it was this wonderfully clean air that I vowed to protect when I was elected to the NH House. I became a member of the Environment and Agriculture Committee, where I have worked hard to make sure that our air and earth are kept as clean and healthy as possible.
I love serving as chair of a legislative committee that is able make a real difference to the quality of our environment. And while in hearings and meetings discussing bills before us, I always keep in mind the vision of the children of Los Angeles struggling to breathe, and my mission becomes clear.
State Representative Tara Sad has served for 8 years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. She is the Chair of the House Environment & Agriculture Committee. She is an active member of the Walpole Grange and the NH Farm Bureau dedicated to preserving our natural environment into the future.