April 22nd, 2009 @ 10:46 am
I didn’t realize that there are really two earth days. One that was started by an activist in San Francisco named John McConnell in 1970. According to an article by Alex Beam of the Boston Globe:
“We had Christmas and Easter,” McConnell, now 94 years old, told me. “Why don’t we have a day just for earth? We’ll call it Earth Day, dedicated to peace, justice, and the care of the earth.”
McConnell chose the spring equinox as his day – clearly because there was meaning there. But then apparently the late US Senator Gaylord Nelson and activist Denis Hayes came along and suggested that he move it to April to coincide with their “environmental teach-in”.
This “environmental teach-in” was Nelson’s brain-child that had been developing for many years. According to Nelson’s own words from his history of Earth Day:
“At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters.”
So there are still a few who celebrate the equinox Earth Day but the media and the corporate world have glommed onto the more popular April 22nd. In Alex Beam’s article he even points to some of the irony of the “green” companies trying to jump on the bandwagon.
What I say is why not join efforts and focus on the real end-game? Geesh – we certainly have enough environmental issues to spread around! So anyway – whatever day you choose to celebrate (or even both) – Happy Earth Day!
I’ll leave you with the lyrics of the song that my son’s Kindergarten teacher taught them in celebration of Earth Day. I have to say listening to his little voice singing it is very cute!
This Pretty Planet (a 3-part round)by Tom Chapman and John Foster
This pretty planet spinning thru space
You’re a garden,
You’re a harbor
You’re a holy place
Golden sun going down
Gentle blue giant, spin us around
All through the night
Safe till the morning light
