It was spring, 1970. Apollo 13 had just barely made it back safely. We were about to invade Cambodia. The Beatles had just disbanded. Men wore ties so wide you could use them for napkins, mini-skirt lengths were finally coming down. I was 11, a 6th grader, tall, lanky, nerdy, awkward, and really worried about our planet -- already. Fresh memories of the tumultuous sixties lingered in the air, as did the pollution. It hung over DC like stale cigarette smoke. Our assignment was to clip relevant news articles, and be ready to talk about the significance of the first Earth Day in class. I recently unearthed my class project in storage and decided to show-and-tell, 40 years later. Gone are Gaylord Nelson and Ed Muskie, but founding organizer Denis Hayes, bless his soul, is still with us! After an entire career devoted to environmental protection, it's hard not to assess progress, admit defeat. We did manage to get some strong laws on the books (e.g. Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act), raise awareness, but it hasn't been enough. Mother Earth is still choking, dying, it seems. Meanwhile, enviros still hold rallies, polluters still pollute, blatant green-washing still abounds, and we continue to log in more devastation, destruction, degradation. Where is the hope?
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