(Reprinted from the Greenfield Recorder editorial page 50 years ago, on the occasion of the nation’s first Earth Day: April 21, 1970. The editor at that time was Alvin “Al” Oickle.)
Everyone talks about the environment. A few individuals are really doing something about the threat of pollution. But most human beings go their merry, untidy ways with no thought of the consequences.
Earth Day is being widely observed in the United States today with conservationists and young persons playing a leading role in the speaking program. This is all very lovely. Oldsters are delighted to see youth turning its attention to improvement of air, water and earth.
But there is a considerable questions in many adult minds: Will the youngsters practice what they preach? Will they start by ending their practice of scattering debris around their homes, their streets, and their towns? Will they influence their contemporaries into using trash cans instead of roadsides for disposal of candy and sandwich wrappers, soft drink bottles and other unwanted articles? Can they change their parents into adoption of the reforms they are advocating?
This is not the problem of youth alone, of course. The adult population of America is generally a vast mass of slobs and it has been so for 200 years. It has turned a green paradise into an expanse of rubbish heaps, dumps and junk piles — public and private. Streams have been used as sewers and for the removal of industrial waste. The white man has killed off the passenger pigeon, the buffalo and other forms of life that once formed part of the natural order.
Perhaps the pendulum can be made to swing in the opposite direction. Perhaps our youth-oriented society can be turned around and taught to appreciate earth and the necessity of preserving it. More than a single day or a single week of missionary work will be required, however. All mankind must learn its place on this planet and how best to maintain it.
There is something we all can do this spring. Friday is Arbor Day, dedicated to the planting of trees, which help reduce air pollution by manufacturing oxygen. Each householder can contribute to earth by planting a tree and by using its fallen leaves each fall to enrich the land.
That’s our message on Earth Day: Plant a tree and be responsible for your own junk.