Today is Earth Day. If you were born before 1965 or so, you probably remember a time when there was no such thing. It was a time of smoky bars, trash littering the roadsides, choking smog, and Superfund sites masquerading as playgrounds, among other things. Rivers regularly caught on fire.
“The river was a scary little thing,” Donovan says. “There was a general rule that if you fell in, God forbid, you would go immediately to the hospital.”
And then publicity turned what was just the latest in a long line of “oops, the water’s on fire” stories into the seed of a new movement. The first Earth Day took place in 1970. The Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970. The idea that maybe we didn’t have to live in a toxic stew of pollution and dangerous chemicals slowly began to take hold. Crazy, I know!
Are there still plenty of places we could improve? Of course. But we’ve come a long way, and our successes are proof that we can take the next step, and the next.
Recent images of people enjoying themselves on warm spring days, among groves of flowering cherry-blossom trees in cities and parks across the Northern Hemisphere
Even Darth Vader made an appearance!
* Or whichever day marks the start of your work week.
Yesterday’s storm has come and gone, leaving icy gems scattered across the ground. The pines are encased in sleek silver robes and the world in treacherous beauty.
Every spring, thousands of fish swim through the Oudegracht in Utrecht, searching for a place upstream to lay their eggs. But the Weerdsluis is often closed. You can help the fish continue their journey! If you see a fish, press the doorbell. This alerts the lock operator to open the lock.
There was a time when seeing a bluebird felt less like spotting a bird and more like witnessing a small miracle. But then, the Eastern bluebird population made a comeback. The hero?
Some of the survival tricks captured in this episode include: “drinking” snow on icy days; an ingenious solution to the problem of cold feet; and the incredible warmth of a fluffy coat of feathers.
Now I’m off to refill my bird feeder and top up the bird bath. Because it’s cold!
Well, it looks like Big Thom the Turkey has winged his way off to other climes. Did he get bored in the back yard? Run out of food? Or was it the H?
As I mentioned yesterday, adding that olde thyme H just seemed right, especially as I gave a shoutout to his dinosaur ancestors. Maybe he didn’t like that. Maybe he’s a modern turkey who wants nothing more than to shrug off the expectations of Uncle Rex and Auntie Stega and move to the big city to find his true calling, like being a graphic designer or a skydiving instructor or maybe even an artist who DJs on the side.
I hear you, big guy, we all need to find our purpose, and use it to bring good into the world.
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