 Millions of people in 183 countries
celebrated the 30th anniversary of Earth Day on Saturday, April
22, with rallies, marches, demonstrations, car-free days and
fairs, many of them focused on the theme of clean energy and
global warming. At the flagship Earth Day event in Washington,
D.C., hundreds of thousands braved windy, chilly conditions to
hear speeches from politicians, listen to music from such artists
as James Taylor and Third Eye Blind, and catch sight of Leonardo
DiCaprio and other celebrities. Big events also took place in other
cities throughout the U.S. and the world, including Tel Aviv,
Tokyo, London, Mexico City, Sydney, New Delhi and Capetown.
Closer to home, celebrants attended
the "Walk for Environmental Excellence" and "Party
for the Planet" at the Kansas City Zoo. These local
events were held not only to commemorate Earth Day, but to kick
off the "30 Days of Earth Day" (go to www.earthdaykc.org
or call 913-earthday). More than 100 events were planned by
area organizations and businesses to tie in with this event, which
was conceived as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the
original Earth Day, held in 1970. The 30 Days of Earth Day
is facilitated by Bridging the Gap, the local environmental
education organization.
The ongoing calendar of activities
associated with the 30 Days of Earth Day includes a wide variety
of topics ranging from recycling, local food production, green
building, cleanups, wildlife, hiking, community activities,
electric vehicles, ecology, landscaping, voluntary simplicity, and
many others. It offers those in our community who support
the environment theoretically, but are unsure of what they
themselves can do, an opportunity to learn about topics which are
of interest to them and have fun at the same time. It also
offers those folks in the community who are really committed to
helping the planet an opportunity to reach a wider audience than
that which is typically listening.
More and more of our neighbors are
coming to the realization that if we continue to degrade the environment
on a worldwide scale in the way we have over the past century, our
quality of life (and that of all other members of the community of
life, and certainly that of our children and grandchildren) will
be so compromised such important topics like the economy and
education will shrink in relative
import.
Albert Schweitzer stated, "Man has
lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end
by destroying the earth." E.B. White shared his gloomy
vision: "I am pessimistic about the human race because
it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature
is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better
chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and
viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and
dictatorially." Many of us have come to learn that our
culture does not define the entirety of the human race.
There have been many cultures (and a few still exist) which have
lived in harmony with the community of life on our planet.
Most have, in White's words, been beaten into submission.
But if we listen carefully, it is they who hold the lesson for us,
that we need not despair in the pessimism of Schweitzer and White.
For the optimists among us, Earth Day
is every day. A good step toward an optimistic future lies
in the activities of the 30 Days of Earth Day.
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