Somewhere around April 22 each year, for 28 years, thousands of people spend a day on a designated weekend before or after celebrating Earth Day.
Basically it is a day or weekend when
- environmental groups set up exhibit booths to publicize what they do, give away newsletters and leaflets, sell Earth Day badges and solicit memberships,
- government agencies set up exhibit booths or park large municipal trucks to publicize programs that relate to environment,
- industries set up exhibit booths to publicize that they are "green,"
- power companies set up exhibit booths to publicize what they do in regard to energy,
- businesses and groups that have nothing to do with environment set up booths to sell food, buttons, tee shirts, books and other stuff that has nothing to do with environment,
- other people or groups organize contests for Earth Day posters, children's art, children's skits and plays, and other environmental awareness activities.
Admittedly, Earth Day is good for creating short-lived environmental awareness. But I was talking to an old friend who has been environmentally aware for about as long as I have (pre-Earth Day) and he had the same reaction I did: "Big deal. For one day or weekend a lot of well-intended people pay attention to environment for a few hours and resolve to recycle more and take re-usable bags to the grocery. But what about the rest of the year?" We wondered: "How many of these people actually buy an automobile, refrigerator or other appliance based on its energy efficiency?" (What ever happened to energy-efficient cars anyway? Been to a car show lately?)
I'm not against Earth Day, mind you, but you'd think that after all these years some of the same municipalities that exhibit year after year would have figured out a way to provide recycling for nickel cadmium (NiCad) batteries; unused chemicals including pesticide, herbicides and the like; fluorescent lamps (they contain mercury); unused paints; and pressurized spray cans (cans that are not completely empty of their pressurization can be an explosive hazard and unspent contents could be a pollutant). The government regulates these at an industrial site but not in the home where they are permitted in municipal trash.
After all these years, you'd also think that all this environmental consciousness would have had some impact on the thousands of smokers who think that when driving a vehicle the world is their ash tray. You'd think that our beaches would contain a lot less litter and that the maritime industry would have stopped pumping their bilges into open water. You'd think that the U.S. market for threatened and endangered furniture woods would have decreased. You'd think that municipalities would have put an end to building on flood plains and mountainsides. You'd think of a lot of other examples too.
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