I had that same discussion with some friends after dinner one evening, when one of my friends said, “Earth Day just gave birth to Going Green.” I kind of clucked and said that Earth Day was for the old hippies and that the Going Green movement was for the yuppies of today. With Earth Day, bring just one day to bring awareness to environmental issues and Going Green movement to bring forward the import ants of the need to take care of the environment every day.
According to Earth Day’s website, Senator Gaylord Nelson was troubled about the state of the environment (Environmental Resources). He had the idea of pushing it into the political limelight. His idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. In the months to follow Senator Nelson, came up with the idea of a grassroots protest over the state of the environment. His hope was the college students would pick up the protest the way they did over Vietnam War. One the same website it reports that the New York Times gave the following statement, “Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation’s campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing students discontent over the War in Vietnam… a national day of observance of environmental problems..is being planned for next spring…when a nationwide environmental “teach-in”… coordinated form the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned” The first Earth Day was on Sunday, November 30, 1969. So, what do we do on Earth Day? On the about the whole getting involved your environment they give you a list of thing that will be going on during Earth Day, one of those are clean up in Calcutta, India, very dirty and not environmental friendly. They don’t have a trash pickup service (Environmental Resource). In countries around the world jumped on the “take care of our environment band wagon” they started planning trees, changing light bulbs, just name a few. So, why only do this once a year, that’s where the modern day yuppies picked up the torch and started the whole going green idea. Where the hippies of the 1960’s held protest and sit it’s, the yuppies had the internet.
On the Going Green website, they have tips on ways to change and help the environment every day, not just one day a year (Tips and Advice). Its simple things like, change light bulbs to the low watt compact bulbs, by recycling every day, not littering. One of a list of many things that bother me the most is when you pull up to a stop light and look out your window and there on the ground are a million cigarettes butts that will be there for a million years, they just hang around like a yesterday’s new. There are all kinds of ways to help the environment and our self’s.
In my opinion, I think Earth Day did give birth to Going Green. Yes, we need to reduce our carbon foot print, but to what extreme do we go too? Do we give up our cars and start walking? I think the best way for all of us to do all of our errands in one trip. The would stop our dependence on oil and stop the drilling. I also, use reusable shopping bags, instead of the plastics ones from the stores. Nothing makes me madder than to see the plastics bags, from Target or Wal-Mart, blowing down the street, two words, RECYCLE PEOPLE!! There are many easy and simple ways to help the environment. You could grow what you eat, change you light bulbs to the low watt compact ones, unplug things that are not in use. People have been concerned for the environment for years, as we all need to be. In the frontier of the west, they grow what they ate, and replanted. We all have to be concerned about our environment. Do you part by recycling, reducing and reusing. There is still one thing that bugs me about the Earth Day/Going Green idea is that they are a money making organization they sell everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs, and reused able water bottles. I have seen what they do in the water fountains on this campus and I’ll be using plastic water bottles, but will put them in the recycle bin. What do any of those things have to do with saving the environment, the worst part is that their made in CHINA!!!
--Rhonda Ladd
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