I was a Senior in High School on the first Earth Day, in 1970, which was on a Wednesday. Our class talked the administration into letting us have a day off from class in honor of this great event to clean up our city. A Service Day, of sorts. Reluctantly, they went along with it. Loaded with garbage bags and gloves, in small groups, we picked up litter around Duncanville. Many of the rural crown black top roads we cleaned are now three-four lane paved streets with curbs and drainage.
It was a beautiful spring day. My Dad let me use his ’64 Olds convertible. It was one of my favorite times to drive that car.
It felt good to be picking up trash. It felt like a brave step forward to be doing something for the world. It felt like the beginning. Graduation was a month away. Yes, the world was large, but is wasn’t scary. We were going to make it different, better.
Now, I wonder...have we? Maybe, it still isn’t too late.
1 comment:
It's not too late, Lyndie! I was finishing my freshman year of High School. I do remember hearing about it, we'd moved to Seattle at this point. As progressive as what Seattle has been known for (don't forget Hendrix!) I guess I was too unaware to take note of the day, then.
Since that day, however, I have always been into the highway cleanup, reuse, refurbish, recycle, mulch piles in the yard, one trip to get everything on the list, and yes, hours in line at the gas station for gas going to 50 cents/gallon! And we needed gas.
So don't wonder if it's too late.......wonder if it's possible to make a bigger difference than what we've made. 35 years since then for me....and I don't see a damn thing different....except inflation.
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