When I was a kid, there was no environmental movement to speak of. There was very little awareness or consideration of what the exploitation of our global resources might lead to. Everything seemed to be such a long ways away, and it appeared that there would always be plenty to go around.
The world has gotten a lot smaller since then. More "right sized," in fact, in the sense that so many more of us are aware of the real circumstances we're generating; the way our combined consciousness is shaping the conditions we can see so easily around us on our little planet. Our little planet that's everything to us.
Years ago, when I was a much less positive person, I drew underground comix in a very sarcastic vein. I thought I was making valid points that people needed to know about. Sometimes I was even accidentally a little prescient (see above pre-global warming comic...edited for the faint of heart). Now I recognize that just actually doing something about it, even if it's just the little I can do, makes much more sense than publicly complaining about it.
So how's about today let's everybody start by taking the original Outdoor Life Conservation Pledge, (adapted for global application)? Raise your right hand, Global Earth Scouts, and repeat after me:
I give my pledge as a [an American] Human Being to save & faithfully to defend from waste the natural resources of my [country] planet - its air, soil, and minerals, its forests, waters & wildlife.
Now, all we gotta do is do something about it, big or small, do something about it – today, and everyday, if at all possible.
Here's the link to a cool American Experience playing this weekend, all about how the environmental movement came to be.
Here's the link to a cool American Experience playing this weekend, all about how the environmental movement came to be.
Some good action agencies, The National Resources Defense Council; Environmental Action; World Wildlife Fund:
Thanks, and Happy Earth Day everybody!
