SageMother mentioned in another thread about how Earth Day has been around for more years than most people know.
Coincidentally I just found recently a box filled with old National Geographics the previous owners left behind here and was raking through it last night. There's an issue (Vol 187, No. 4, April 1995) that has an article in it called
Earth Day: 25 years old. I had no idea it had been going for so long and sat down to read it.
I'll quote a bit here if I may from the first few paragraphs:
Quote:
It was to be a teach-in. The National Environmental Teach-In, the organizers called it, hoping to capture the spirit if not the politics of those earlier "sit-ins" of the fractious 1960s. Instead, what emerged on April 22, 1970, was Earth Day, the greatest nationwide street demonstration the United States had witnessed since the tumultuous close of World War II.
Twenty million Americans turned out that day to hear politicians and philosophers pledge allegiance to the planet by deploring its polluted conditions. Congress stood in recess, its lawmakers out on the ecological stump.
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After reading the article, I felt a bit torn. On the one hand, I was pleased it had continued on for so many more years, this being now Earth Day's 36th anniversary. On the other, I was a bit depressed that there was still a need for it because the environmental issues Earth Day was designed to raise awareness of are still a part of our lives.
Then I remembered. The article focuses on seven people who, alone or with their spouses, were doing their best to protect and improve the environment around them. These tasks, ranging from projects as diverse as building a community garden in the heart of Queens New York to keeping petroglyphs safe near Albuquerque, were taken on by ordinary people that had achieved extraordinary things.
That gives me hope. These individuals demonstrated that we really can change things and we don't need to be politicians or some high powered executive to do so. What we need is the dedication, the courage and the tenacity to follow through in standing up for what we believe is the right thing to do.
There's a quote I love by Margaret Mead which says " Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." These people exemplify that. Let's hope these days there's more like them out there we just don't know about, quietly doing their bit for the environment. Maybe they'll be in the 50th anniversary article. Maybe it's even you.
End of musing.
Earth Day revisited- just musing
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