Earth Day

No doubt this will date me, but I actually remember the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. At the time I was in high school and got caught up in the movement after having read a few books that changed my worldview … Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s seminal exposure of the cursed chemical DDT and its ravaging effect on wildlife and the food chain, The Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich’s introduction to the consequences of unchecked population growth, and Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold’s landmark conservation and ecological tome on land ethics. Earth Day is celebrated in over 193 countries, and April 22 is also the date of the 2016 Paris Agreement, from which only the United States has embarrassingly left! The original idea for Earth Day was proposed at a San Francisco UNESCO conference to honor our earth and the concept of peace. We recognize that this day may get scant attention from many of our merchants, but we ask that you please take some time to reflect on the size of your own carbon footprint, maybe even make a renewed effort to tread lightly on our planet, and to foster greater care for all of its inhabitants. Happy Earth Day everyone! (Jeff Marcous)