My Thoughts On Earth Day (yeah I know it was a week ago...so!)

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. It was created by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin. It is estimated that 1 billion people will come together across the globe on April 22 to focus on steps to better the environment.

So April 22 was Earth Day. Now you may look at Earth Day as another useless "holiday" that appears on your calendar, one does not warrant an actual vacation day, where people parade around about trees and ironically,Hallmark sells more cards, I kid you not. Another gimmicky day full of false promises to make some change, environmentally that is. Meanwhile about a week or so later, everything will go back to the same.

Do I sound bitter? I don't mean to be. I just don't see what all the fuss is about. Okay, okay, I have a confession to make I’m not a conservationist at least not on paper (now that would just be wasteful!)

I like Earth. It's a pretty sweet place to live. But you won't catch me going to any parades or tying myself to any trees for the holiday.

I tend to lean towards what some would call “ultra-passive green living.” I do little things like not leaving the water running while I brush my teeth, some light recycling, and oh yeah I cut up the plasticky thingys from 6 packs (of soda!) I even have weird pepperminty/chamomile-ish earthy, smelling soaps in my bathroom, that counts right? It might not be much but I feel like I’m doing my part in some small way.

Trash Talk

We've all heard about the benefits of recycling- how it saves energy, reduces pollution etc. Don't get me wrong, I think recycling has it's good points. Recycling is, in fact, good for something...the human spirit. Let's face it, we get a warm, fuzzy feeling when we recycle. We feel like we are doing our part in order to save our environment. "Aren't you a good little American" (pats head.)

SideNote: Quick story-You know,besides being the GirlieGamer, I am also a Pre-K teacher in a private school (which means I am grossly underpaid! but anyway.) This past Earth Day my 4 year old class and I did some sorting/recycling, yes they had a blast.

Then there was the custodian to deal with. Long story short, total waste of time.. No doubt about it folks custodians have been the school’s “weak link.”when it comes to recycling. My custodian Mr. Al upon seeing our nice recycling bins all lined up in a row, after much moaning and groaning informed me at end of the day,our regular garbage and our recyclables are all going to wind up in the same dumpster out back anyway. Gasp... to tell you the truth I am not at all surprised- not one bit. I suspect this is a common occurrence and is happening in a lot more places than we think.

Oh, don't worry about the kiddies being jaded or let down in any way- we are still happily sorting, I just combine all the trash at the end of the day after they've all gone home and give it to mean ol' Mr. Al.( He is so getting extra finger paint and dried up glue to clean off the tables from here on out! Sticks out tongue.)

So Earth Day 2008 has come and gone and what did you do to help save the environment?

Did you plant a few trees to help cut down on the air pollution? Did you take your newspapers/plastic/cans to the local recycling plant? Attend an Earth Day festival?