Monday, April 22nd has become know as Earth Day....we all strive to be eco-friendly by recycling paper, plastic and glass. We take "green" bags to the grocery store and look to buy organic vegetables and meat.
For me, I have memories of a simpler time. I know, I sound like I am 100 - no just a soon to be 56! I remember the first Earth Day in 1970. I was attending Dow Avenue School and everyone wanted to do something. We wore earth shoes and cleaned up the parks and woods. I remember walking to school (about 5 miles one way) with a group of friends to bring attention to how the buses were polluting our air. Walking to school was one thing but then we remembered that we needed to walk home AFTER school. Not part of the original plan. I remember cleaning up a local roadside with my aunts - Edythe and Elsie - stepping on a nail, a rusty nail to be more exact. So my clean up now involved a trip to the ER AND a tetanus shot. Earth shoes were all the rage. They may not have been pretty but they were supposed to be good for you and help the environment.
The years have passed and Earth Day has taken on a new and bigger meaning. Holes in the ozone layer. Recycling has become mandatory by local townships. Everyone is pitching in and helping to clean up our beaches, parks, and roadsides. As for me, I am renewing my commitment to do the things that we started to do so many years ago to help in preserving the world for my grandchildren since my daughter is grown and doing her own part on to help save the world.
What will you do to be a part of the "green living" world? Have a ThirtyOne-derful day.
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