When I was in junior high, I was a member of the choir. In addition to wearing a crisp white dress shirt, black slacks, and a bowtie with an elastic band for our performances, choir participation also included singing a host of songs that have left indelible marks on my adolescent memory. It was in choir that I learned all of the lyrics to "My Favorite Things." It was in choir that I also learned the holiday diddy "Christmas Is a Feeling." I couldn't shake this song. I sang it all during the holidays, I sang it in July. Even today, I'm sitting here humming it in my head, telling you about it. The song isn't especially well written, the medley isn't particularly riveting. What got me the most about this song, and resonates with me still today, is the ending refrain: "If Christmas is a feeling, bringing such good cheer, then why O why don't you and I try to make it last all year?".
Which brings me to Earth Day. Today marks the 40th anniversary of the holiday. Founded in 1970 by Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day was initially created as a means of inspiring awareness of and appreciation for stewardship of our planet and all of its inhabitants and ecosystems. While that mission remains true today, I would amend it to include a call for daily, consistent, conscientious action on the part of all of Earth's inhabitants. We've really only got one world, as the Black Eyed Peas so poetically detail it. Like the holiday song I learned so long ago asks, if the message of Earth Day brings such good cheer (along with cleaner oceans, skies, arable lands, and so, so much more), then why don't you and I try to make it last all year? Let's make Earth Day everyday.
5 comments:
funny thinking about high school...i have a VHS video still in storage that i did my senior year in speech class about 'how we all must recycle' (wearing a depeche mode t-shirt and black eyeliner, of course). thinking about my own evolution as an ecogrrl, it's a trip.
Just wanted to tell you that I saw your books in the Barnes and Noble in Bethesda, MD earlier this week. Kind of a kick, I feel I know you just from reading your blog!
I totally agree: I feel the same way about so many holidays, valentines day, mothers day, etc, they just seem like an excuse to buy hallmark cards and we cannot let earth day become that!
It's funny looking back (like Eco Grrl said) about how some of us eco-conscious types had that nature way back. My granny wrote this in a poem about picking up my brother & I from school:-
"on we go for Vicky, she's awkward, at that age...when ozone layers and animal rights can throw her in a rage...she shatters me with startling news, she'll never chew more gum, she's even vegetarian when she entertains her chum!"
Maybe all of this shows that an early education in these matters is probably the key to creating a sea change... ??
You know, I was talk all about ecology and recycling back in the SEVENTIES, and it irritates me that the small chunk of the world's population using the majority of the world's resources still doesn't get it.
I think a lot of it is the fault of corporations who market prunes in single wrapping (!), or disposable, one-off anything- the latest thing to piss me off is Kleenex marketing paper hand towels for your bathroom! What the hell?! And people will buy it, because they'll think it's a good idea.
Then there are all the chemical companies 'greenwashing' their products. You have to really be aware in order to make the right decisions.
Happy Earth Day anyway, though! And everyday IS Earth Day, with me and mine, anyway...
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