What's the Point of Earth Day?
Some say the celebration has lost its edge
Writes Elizabeth Kolbert: "This week, when Earth Day turns thirty-nine, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation will plant trees. The Interior Department will host a fair in Washington's Rawlins Park, and in Bloomington volunteers will teach sixth graders about karsts and creeks. As perhaps befits a middle-aged celebration, these are all eminently reasonable activities. But Earth Day has lost its edge and, with that, the sense that a different world is possible." What's the point of Earth Day? Is Kolbert right that the celebration no longer sparks the imagination of participants? Did it ever? Post your thoughts.
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Reader Comments
We need it now more than ever
I don't mean to be rude but this is the dumbest question I have ever heard. Now that we are coming out of the Bush Dark Ages where we denied reality on darn near everything, we *have* to make Earth Day a major educational awareness day.
To be frank, we have no more time to lose. Besides, children happen to learn a lot on Earth Day. While this writer may be older and more cynical I put my bet on the younger more idealistic generations who actually want a habitable planet for themselves and for future generations.
Earthday to me...
Its a time to reflect on all the freedoms the special interests have taken from us! Thats what earth day reminds me of now! Not exactly what it was intended to represent, but a good example of when things are taken to extremes...no body wins
EVERY Day should be Earth Day
This is simple... do your homework and become educated. Need a head start? Read Thomas Friedman's Flat, Hot, and Crowded. This isn't even a question anyone should be asking in today's world. It is NOT political, hypothetical, or dream science.
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