Earth Day is Really Soil Day

The Roots of Earth Day

April 22nd, another Earth Day has arrived. Let's go back to the roots of this movement and see where it all began. Let me lift a quote from the Earthday.org website:


The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world.


What I find astounding in so many ways is that this massive awakening of the environmental movement (and all of the legislation that legitimized and sustained it) was ushered into being under the presidency of Richard Nixon. Contradictions embodied. Does anyone think that the current champion of the US Republican Party is likely to leave a similar legacy for the planet (if given the chance)?


And now (since I'm quoting things) let's see what Dictionary.com has to say:

"The softer part of the land"


Indeed.


The cradle in which we all rest - in ignorance, in bliss, in hope?


The soil is where we all come from. And she sustains us all.


Should we not return the favor?


As we fumble here between heaven and hell, is there anything more important to do today?


Think globally - act locally.

Happy Earth Day!

Bob Reeves