Boomer Journeys by Alex Carrier

It’s Mother’s Day – for Mother Nature
Happy Earth Day

The time was the late 1960’s. It was the Age of Aquarius and flower power. People, or some of them, became active in preserving the earth by getting and giving back to the earth.

There were degrees of activism. Some just went organic. Others moved into more natural, sometimes primitive, surroundings. A few joined communes. Some even got back to the bare basics.

Following a more natural trend was not limited to just activists. Interior decorators and fashion designers used earth tones: chocolate brown, butterscotch, burnt orange, avocado green, cranberry, harvest gold, creamy vanilla.

On April 22, 1970, Americans celebrated their planet with the first Earth Day. In a time of “sit-ins”, this was a “teach-in” designed to bring national and international attention to the importance of the environment.

Started by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, the idea was to get people involved. So many people, politicians would begin working on ways to save the quality of life on planet Earth.

More than three decades later, the strain of almost 7  billion humans populating our world and using and abusing finite resources makes finding ways to preserve the environment an ever more critical issue.

Nelson’s charge led the American government into enacting legislation including The Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act, the Environmental Policy Act and other policies such as fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.

Much was accomplished. More needs to be done.

Earth Day is international with activities and actions throughout the world. Scientists, politicians and citizens have come to recognize resources are not infinite and what one country does affects the environment in other countries across the planet.

The push is on to raise public and political awareness of just how fragile our environment is and how each one of us must take steps to conserve and preserve resources for the generations to come. Rather than just one Earth Day, supporters want everyone to think of each and every day as Earth Day.

“Think Green” is a much more common and popular concept in our modern world. Many of the young idealists of the ‘60s and ‘70s have realized that conservation is critical to survival. The cost to dispose of human waste is enormous and the ability to achieve disposal more difficult.

Remember the “garbage barge”? What about Love Canal and Three Mile Island? Droughts, wildfires and floods have underscored the immediate crisis and the need to truly understand how our actions affect our world.

This Earth Day, think of how you, your family, your community and your workplace can become involved in saving the environment. Some steps are small, some large but all important.

Think “Reuse, Reduce, Recycle”. Try to use an item more than once. Don’t discard partially used items: use them up and reduce the amount of waste you generate. Recycle are recyclable items.

According to statistics, there are less than 4.5 biologically productive acres available for each person in the world. The United States currently uses up the resources of an average 24 acres per person.

Our 6 million humans must coexist on this planet with another 10 million plant and animal species. We know we cannot live without some of these species. Many we have yet to discover may be just as vital to our existence.

While there have been advances in science that help preserve species, the truth is when plants and animals disappear from the earth they cannot be brought back. Gone is gone forever.

No matter your age or ability, this Earth Day find a way to help conserve and preserve. Everyone who helps, even a little, helps a lot.

This Boomer Journey was originally published in the G reene County Record, May 2008.  Read Boomer Journeys and other articles by Alex Carrier in the Greene County Record