Posted by David
My first Earth day occurred exactly 2,370 days from my first day on Earth. Encouraged by a combination of the then infantile environmental movement (proffered by both my government school and television commercials), an older (second grade) friend down the street, and a puerile desire to make an impact, I jumped on the bandwagon, at least for the day.
As you may know, the current environmental movement – now with global warming as its capstone – gained purchase circa 1970. I remember having to make an anti-pollution poster in the second grade for which I won honorable mention. (The only reason I didn't win the grand prize is that I waited until the night before it was due and THEN sprung the requirement on my parents. This was before the 24hr convenience stores and all we had was a partial piece of poster board. Therefore my entry did not meet the size requirements and could not win 1st place.)
So me and two friends voluntarily participated in the first Earth Day: April 22, 1970. I was in the first grade. We selected an undeveloped lot in our suburban Atlanta subdivision and proceeded to pick up all the litter and, I suppose, eradicate all environmental hazards on this third of an acre. My friends and I picked up all the litter, scrap wood, metal, and other building materials on the lot. We did this alone and without mentioning it to anyone. We were not seeking fame or recognition, we merely wanted to do our part to save the planet.
As with all boys we soon were hungry and thirsty. Then a moment of stupidity occurred. Looking back all I can say is “Duh!” but I'm sure it seemed like a great idea at the time. We dug up a root of some sort, convinced ourselves it was edible, and set out to eat it. Apparently I ate most of it or maybe all of it. By the time I heard my mom calling for me to come to dinner: “David, David” – this was hands-to-the-mouth-to-form-a-megaphone, open-air call, from the back deck of our house about four houses away, and long before cellular phones. I walked home will a full stomach and possibly a satisfied feeling. I remember worrying about telling my mom how I had “already eaten” and spoiled my appetite.
As expected I did not eat much dinner. I may have not eaten anything at all. I remember laying down on my bed, still in my clothes, with that unmistakable feeling that I'm about to vomit. It did not take long. Thinking quickly I dumped the contents of my metal bedroom trashcan on the floor and began filling it with a partially-digested root. Serves me right. This is how I spent the rest of the night and my parents made me go to school the next day.
I was seven years old during the first Earth Day. Those of you my age or older will remember some of the first environmental television commercials. Probably the most well know was the “crying Indian” commercial starring none other than “Iron Eyes Cody”. The visual was a canoe-bound Indian navigating a river with all sorts of polluted backdrops, the audio is a dramatic drumming on a tom-tom – a wonderful effect. The culmination of the commercial is someone throwing a bag of trash out of their moving car. The bag hits the ground and explodes at the feet of the Indian. He turns his face towards the camera to reveal a single (large) tear from his right eye. It begins to slide down his cheek while an ominous – unfortunately pre-James Earl Jones voice – says “People start pollution, people can stop it”.
What if I told you this commercial was a hoax or at least hoaxish? The Indian was no native American but instead a Sicilian-born immigrant portraying an American Indian. The tear was not naturally occurring lachrymal water but instead a drop of glycerin. (Hat tip to a friend of mine for making me aware of this mis-perception. I did want to believe him so I verified it with www.snopes.com. Apparently it's true.) Although this was only recently brought to my attention I have to ask “Was my body trying to tell me something all those years ago?”
6 comments:
david, you are missing the point of earth day. it is about the future not the past's sappy commercials. what is wrong with conservation, alternative fuels development, waste reduction, pollution clean up, and such? sure some of the environmentalists are nuts but that shouldn't detract from the idea of environmentalism as a whole. who cares if the indian was italian? or if the tear was glycerin? there used to be tons of trash on America's highways. now there is not nearly so much and you practically never see a litter bug anymore. Gore may be on the kooky fringe of environmentalism but you and people like ed who mock and criticize every aspect of environmentalism are on the kooky opposite side. you should try to recapture the idealism in that 7 year old boy that died somewhere along the way and be part of the solution instead of a cynical hinderance.
Touching anecdote David. I almost shed a glycerin tear myself. Bert is right. You are totally missing the point of Earth Day.
Bert,
I think you missed my point which one of my other points.
which proves one of my other points.
Bert,
I owe you a better response.
My hypothesis is that this early environmental television commercial - based on falsehoods - was part of a shaky foundation for what has now become the global "crisis" we know as global warming.
There is nothing wrong with looking to the future as long as it doesn't require us to adopt the lifestyle of a third world nation in order to eliminate our impact on the Earth.
I do not litter, I support the things you mention, i.e. alternative fuel development, etc. But I think the market (supply and demand) will provide the best answers at the lowest cost when the demand warrants.
What most people don't consider is that even if we could snap our fingers and suddenly all vehicles became a Toyota Prius and achieved 40 m.p.g. we would face a different set of energy and environmental problems. First, about 60% of our electricity in the U.S. is generated by burning coal. And the current hybrid cars require plugging in to the electric grid somewhere. Coal emits pollution when it is burned.
Second, we do not have enough coal burning capacity to support this so we would be faced with a relative shortage of electrical power which would, in turn, increase the cost of electricity for everyone, even those who do not drive.
There is no magic bullet to solve this but the market knows best and will ensure our finite resources are used in the most efficient way. And THAT is conservation.
I hope this helps clarify my position.
David
there is nothing wrong with free marketeering. I am all for it. the problem is that people sometimes need to be nudged in the right direction when it comes to consumption. the lag time between a market force dictating a switch from coal to solar and wind, for instance, could take generations to complete. i think the environment needs to be cleaned more quickly, so why not allow the government help push it in that direction? just so you know, my desire for that sort of conversion is not just about the environment. it is about the rising cost of energy period. ed says it all the time, the sooner we get off foreign oil, the sooner we do not have to give a damn what the crazy arabs do to supply. it is a national security issue.
the commercial with the indian was not based on falsehoods. it was based on the truth, that Americans were extraordinarily careless polluters at the time, and it used actors and props to make a salient point. people actually threw bags of trash out their car windows back then. most of the industrial super-fund sites were created in the seventies. cars belched unburned oil and gas everywhere. how are those falsehoods?
the problem with you far-right conservatives is that you fail to see the bigger picture, while nitpicking some detail about a glycerin tear to use to discount the entire argument about pollution and conservation. i understand and respect the fact that solar and wind technologies are not yet competitive but it will not hurt to nudge them along until they are.
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