Earth Day, 1970-2010

Today is Earth Day.

I remember the first one, forty years ago.

Those were heady times. In several senses of the word. Being worked up about saving the environment was kinda now and kinda wow. You know: groovy.

I'm still concerned about maintaining clean air, water and soil. I live on Earth, after all: and it's nice to walk outside without my eyes watering.

I indulged in a trip down memory lane yesterday: wandering with nostalgic Pilot shades over my mind's eyes.



Ah, yes: I was there at the beginning, and remember the grand swell of emotion I experienced, seeing that big green theta flying over the campus. A Wikipedia article says the 'ecology flag' came after 1970, and the person who wrote that could be right. Like so many other memories of that groovy period, mine aren't entirely precise. I wasn't part of the drug scene: but that's another topic.

Well, that was then, and this is now. Like I said, I still care about clean air and not drinking industrial waste. But I think I've got a trifle better grip on reality now.

I've been celebrating Earth Day's 40th anniversary by writing about a misunderstood and often-neglected sustainable resource: lint.

No, really. The stuff's more useful than you might think. Here's a list of links to what I've written, and a sort introduction, on another blog:

• "Lemming Tracks: STOP THE WASTE!!! RECYCLE EARTH'S PRECIOUS LINT!!!!"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North