Then and Now (112)

Aw, 1970.  I can almost hear the chants of anything anti war, anti establishment, anti anyone over 30, anti military industrial complex, anti *ahem* you get my drift.

But, today I am thinking about that first Earth Day and what it meant to so many of us at the time.  Hard to believe it has been 40 years and, although some things have improved, it’s still mostly the same old story.

Part of Earth Day was just getting out on the quad and having a love fest.  We loved each other and we loved good ole Mother Nature.  The weather cooperated.  The timing was also good because it was before we had to quite worry about finals and we still had a feeling of freedom and a desire to celebrate the arrival of spring.  Yes, we were also worried about a world that would be lost to war and all of that Vietnam era stuff.  We worried that the government ‘spies’ would be checking us out and making a list of who was naughty or nice.  But, we still had an awfully great time just being together and caring about each other and the world in general.

This morning I was listening to some ‘talking heads’ making comments about the first Earth Day, and without exception they said there was no concern about climate change then because that was before global warming.  Hey wait a minute guys!  I was there.  No, we weren’t concerned about global warming, we were concerned about the big freeze that was coming.  No kidding. The Hadley CRU climate center in East Anglia had results from studies showing a slight global cooling from 1940 on. Yes indeed. We were about to enter a new ice age if we didn’t do something real quick. There was talk about auto emissions, coal plants, livestock, etc., etc. I had become a vegetarian several years before and I didn’t have a car so I wasn’t in control of some things. But the power plants in Central Illinois were powered by coal and I was feeling very guilty. I bought more sweaters at Goodwill, turned the heat down to about 50, and shivered a lot. (I was skinny in those days.)

Except for that little slip from the talking heads, the reports are about right. We did care about the cutting down of trees, the wastefulness of our society, air and water pollution, and almost everything else that involved the earth. People joined Peace Corps en masse, people dodged the draft and ran for Canada or where ever they could to get away, some formed communes, some went to The Farm, some dropped out and are still dropped out. Most though made it through those turbulent times and ended up with lives very similar to their parents. Nice house, two cars, 2.5 kids, steady job, dinner out on the weekends, every thing they had condemned their parents for.

The good thing is that some people did spend their lives either working publically to ‘save the earth’ or in their own quiet ways making changes in their own lives that made a difference. Those changes include not being wasteful, recycling/repurposing, using or growing organic foods, cutting down on meat consumption, not littering, not using herbicides/pesticides, using public transportation when possible, being careful and mindful of the earth’s resources.

Other people have made a business of the politics of Earth Day and I am ashamed of them. They lead people off the real goal of being good stewards of the earth. We are currently tangled in the politics of Earth Day and I would love it if we could get back on track. Don’t force legislation for windmill farms so that politicians that own them can make a ‘windfall.’ Don’t force preservation of woodlands so others can confiscate the acreage and make a profit from it. Don’t shut down coal plants without providing affordable energy for the masses. Do the transition in a thoughtful and non-greedy way so that people can adjust and no politician or friend of a politician can reap untold rewards.

I want to see Americans stand together on Earth Day and create new ways to get us to where we need to be. I want us to be good stewards of this magnificent Earth together.

Somehow I think I should end this with: Peace Brothers and Sisters