Happy Earth Day!
April 22, 2013
Earth Day began in 1970 as a response to an oil spill. The idea was to push more people to think about the problems that were plaguing the country’s air and water, hopefully leading to a caring nation working toward a solution.
The first April 22 Earth Day had participants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it "brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform.”
It now is observed in 192 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network, chaired by the first Earth Day 1970 organizer Denis Hayes, according to whom Earth Day is now "the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year.” Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action which changes human behavior and provokes policy changes.
This is not just a holiday for kids. While it may be true that it is an educational day – the goal being to educate as many people as possible about the problems Planet Earth faces…I can’t see why this would be something to teach only our children, since our children are the ones we should be most concerned about saving our planet FOR.
In the words of a Native American proverb:
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
It is 2013: Climate change, greenhouse gases, the great Pacific Garbage patch, struggling polar bears – all buzz words in today’s news aimed at striking a nerve. In an age when we’re more likely to talk about “going green” instead of “saving the environment”, Earth Day has become somewhat of a commercial opportunity for the hoards of companies with green products to sell. I thought maybe we could use this day to celebrate the Earth. Be thankful for what we have and think about what we might do, instead of what we might buy, in order to help the planet and keep those things we’re thankful for. Hopefully one day our children’s children might appreciate just the same on their April 22 Earth Day.
For now, take a look at this video and see how much difference one person can make with something as small and trivial seeming as an old Pepsi bottle…it might just brighten your day.