Editorial Board
Laura Misjak
Kate Polesnak
Lindsey Poisson
James Harrison
Keiara Tenant
Whitney Gronski
Earth Day must be more effective to be useful
Guess what today is.
Apart from the obvious “Tuesday,” many people might not know what falls on April 22. After all, unlike major and secondary holidays that receive a lot of fanfare when individuals might enjoy a day off, Earth Day doesn’t do much. Not a lot of guidance from Hallmark this time.
When Earth Day was first created in 1970, there was a noble purpose behind it: to designate a day for environmental issues, something that probably wasn’t on the minds of consumers for the rest of the 364 days in the year. It was just something that came and went, especially in the days when we were in elementary school and did nature-type crafts to commemorate the annual event. Most of the time, sadly, it didn’t seem important.
Now, it seems redundant to devote a day to what is already becoming a mainstream practice.
More people at least attempt to be environmentally friendly after former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Al Gore debuted his Academy Award-winning “An Inconvenient Truth” documentary.
More and more shoppers are taking their own reusable bags to the store, switching lightbulbs, recycling and sometimes participating in trash pickup activities in the local community. Individuals are becoming more aware and more understanding of the plights facing the planet, and they do this more than once a year.
For very different reasons, Earth Day, again, doesn’t seem that important. After 38 years, it’s time to revitalize or just get rid of Earth Day.
Instead of taking the day to spread awareness, it’s time to devote a day to action.
Some people already have plans to do just that today — there are various kinds of projects and entertainment events planned throughout the world, according to the Earth Day Network’s Web site, ww2.earthday.net.
This highlights the potential for Earth Day — especially if it can mobilize the world to do something big among the smaller lifestyle changes we’ve already made.
But whatever happens, let’s not make this another government holiday where people take the day off. No one would actually take the day off to think about or volunteer their time toward environmental causes.
Whether you believe in global warming or not, everyone can at least agree that our planet deserves some respect. We live here, and for now it’s our only option. Mess up the planet and the whole human race is doomed.
If we could take one day to do all that much more — apart from our personal earth-saving routines at work and home — everyone would probably get behind that, too.
Published on Monday, April 21, 2008
Comments
F Earth Day
04/21/08 @ 10:18pm
I always leave all my lights on for Earth Day.
I like to do this to remind myself that I have the luxury of lighting every square inch of my house at the same time.
I will also be burning tires in my backyard this year bc I think the black smoke looks cool.
who?
04/22/08 @ 5:56am
Who writes these titles? they have been consistently terrible this semester. The actual editorial here isn’t too bad.
Dan
04/22/08 @ 8:31am
When are we going to advocate a Life Day, which would create awareness for the murder of thousands of aborted babies each year?
Hun
04/22/08 @ 8:52am
F Earth Day: Let me know when you light up those tires. It will make it easier to track you down and strap you on top of the pile. Grease fires look pretty cool too.
F You...
04/22/08 @ 10:24am
F Earth Day … At least I’ve got the pride in knowing I’ve never been “that guy”. From your comment, it’s safe to say you are exactly like the collegehumor.com students that put “your mom” or “fag” after each reply. Awesome stuff. I’ll recycle and bike for you today. Also, Dan you bring up a valid point however it’s a far too touchy subject and I do agree we all have been swamped with the idea of living green. New topic: Might be a great story to follow a handful or more MSU students who have fled from Africa’s genocide.
Hey Dan...
04/22/08 @ 10:30am
Dan, we’ll have a ‘Life Day’ when there’s a ‘Choice Day’ created to honor the woman’s right to choose. Or maybe a ‘Her Right’s Day’- because afterall, it’s our body, and our choice and nobody should tell us otherwise!
(And that’s a conservative viewpoint because even though I am a Republican conservative, I don’t believe anyone should tell me what I can and cannot do with my body).
Tim
04/22/08 @ 11:14am
Dan- you bring up the alleged murder in most of your comments regardless of the topic at hand, so it doesn’t appear as if a Life Day is necessary.
Spinozi
04/22/08 @ 11:42am
I am happy to that on earth day I try to be the least possible “green” I can because the new trendy “Green” hysteria is so annoying. so annoying even major companies built the hysteria into their sales pitches and add campaigns to capitalize on you idiots.
today i will: let my car idle, not recycle cans, use a fist full of napkins, take two state news papers from the bin (then throw them out), let my shower run for an hour, flush several times, leave my lights on all day, and of course…rip up any new trees i see planted
Hun
04/22/08 @ 4:01pm
Spinoze: Be sure to print your above comment and paste it in your “Book of My Life” so your great-grand kids will know how much you cared about them. That way when they piss on your grave at least they’ll have a good reason other then from pure spite.
Bleed Green
04/22/08 @ 4:49pm
@ Spinozi:
I agree, the trend to call everything “green” is annoying. There ends anything worthwhile in your post.
If ALL the climate change argument is just fluff, and we end up helping and bettering the planet as a side effect (not to mention helping the economy by coming up with new technologies and possible industries), what’s the harm there?
Coming up with eco-friendy modes of transportation is only going to help the auto industry. Making new forms of fuel (that DON’T require taking FOOD from starving people) will broaden the field for energy industries (I would say “the oil industry,” but that’s something we should be getting away from, too).
New technologies, new jobs, cleaner planet…yeah, I can see where you’d want to put an end to this kind of non-sensical thinking…
Spinozi
04/22/08 @ 5:32pm
i like when green crazed radicals say “don’t waste water, man” AS IF the planet can run out of it. water is an endless resource (see 4th grade science book about evaporation & rain) and can never ever go away. plus with our technology of filtering, it willalways always be clean to drink.
green enviro craze is just that, crazy with hardly any substance.
common sense
04/22/08 @ 6:40pm
“add campaigns to capitalize on you idiots”
Please tell me you go to LCC and not MSU
Haknasty
04/22/08 @ 9:02pm
The earth is fine. I don’t see a need for improvement. It’s good to be aware, but that’s as far as I’d take it.
Spinoza
04/22/08 @ 9:05pm
so far today i used:
half a package of napkins
several plastic cups
a few hundred gallons of water (don’t pay a water bill at my apt)
half a stack of paper plates
full pack of copy machine paper (at my office)
usual amount of gasoline
common sense: for a smug guy with “common sense” you must not have a tv otherwise you would see the few dozen giant corporations and oil companies running catchy/trendy we’re green now” adds to make idiots like you feel good when you buy their product. it’s called a smart business plan.