Earth Day


I admit I’m old enough to remember the first “Earth Day” in 1970. Actually, a short story I wrote for an “Earth Day” writing contest sponsored by ISU around 1973 was the first time I received compensation for my writing. My story, titled “Unbalanced”, won first place in the fiction category, and I received a whopping $5.00.

In 1969, US Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, came up with the idea of “Earth day”. He was concerned that across the country, evidence of environmental degradation was overwhelming, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue was not on the nation's political agenda. People were concerned, but the politicians weren’t.

He thought that if he could tap into the concerns of the public, and direct the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, he could generate demonstrations across the country that would force the issue onto the national political scene.

At a conference in 1969, Senator Nelson announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a national grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment. The result of his announcement was more than he could have imagined. Inquiries poured into his office from all across the country. When the first “Earth Day” was over, 20 million demonstrators and thousands of schools and local communities had participated.

Thirty nine years later, we’re not only still celebrating “Earth day”, but its message is as relevant as ever. We continue to consume or destroy our air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and bio-diversity. If you want a perfect example just look at the Gulf Coast right now. It's an environmental disaster that will haunt us for a long time; the ramifications are catastrophic. This is not a sustainable situation in the long term. We can stick our heads in the sand for a while, but eventually our bottoms are going to notice a problem. When it’s all gone, we’ll have nothing left except a wasteland.

If you want to have less of a negative impact on the earth, there are some simple things you can do right now without much effort. It won't put the oil back under the ocean floor, but it's a small step in the right direction. You can recycle your papers, reuse your water bottles, buy compact fluorescent light bulbs, compost, grow your own veggies or buy locally, etc. Also, if you’re interested there are many environmentally friendly sites to peruse such as Sierra club, and the National Wildlife Federation. They contain wonderful ideas to help the planet.

Let’s remember the words of Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish people,
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.