Happy Earth Day

Back in the early 70's, when Earth Day began, I remember filling gelatin capsules with soil and seeds as a school project. The kids in our school must have made thousands of those little seed pills. If I remember correctly, they were going to be scattered along the highways in Oklahoma, where I lived at the time. I often wonder how that went, since we moved shortly afterwards.

Growing up in the 70's and 80's I was always interested in nature and the environment. (Must have been due to watching all those commercials where the Native American chief had the tear running down his face.) As kids, we spent most of their free time outside, rolling around in the grass, climbing trees (and falling out of them), exploring the woods and creeks. We were great garbage collectors on our expeditions; only we thought the trash we were picking up was treasure. I still remember picking up a crumpled up tube of VO5 and thinking, "Wow, this must be valuable." I was a first-grader! What do you expect?

I was a real tree-hugger; I used to get on my imaginary soapbox and rant about polluters and deforestation to anyone that would listen. I was so involved that I almost took a job with the California League of Conservation Voters--that is, until I found out I would be going door-to-door all by myself. Having just graduated from a woman's college (where you learn what can happen to a woman alone), I decided that would not be the best thing for me.

Still, I try to go green. I recycle and try to make smarter choices with the things I buy. (I love the reusable shopping bags from Trader Joe's, but these Envirosax look cool too.) I use mass transit when I have a choice. I know I can do more, but at least it's a start. My hope is that if people can begin by doing one or two small things for the earth, it will snowball into bigger actions. Because it's going to take all of us to change what is happening.