Happy Earth Day everyone!   On this day in 1970, the first Earth Day was born.  The first Earth Day led to the Environmental Protection Agency, and the passing of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act.  Can you imagine life before environmental responsibility?  Imagine littering freely, and the luscious aroma of cigarette smoke wafting into your office at work?!  Crazy, right.

Since then, environmental policies have evolved, it could be said that we are at our next big stage of evolution.  We have all now grown up with the needed education to know what our environmental issues.  Now, we must all take it upon ourselves to do everything possible to keep our earth beautiful.  And, I think the first step is learning to enjoy our Earth.  The more we know how great we have it, the harder we will work to save it! (http://www.earthday.net/node/77)

Even as a kid, I always thought Earth Day was such a great holiday.  But, back then, I didn’t really understand the importance of it.  I just loved the extended recesses we had on Earth Day.  And the teachers were always masters of celebrating the day with activities like planting trees and painting pictures of the ocean and the mountains.  But maybe that’s ok.  I mean, environmental responsibility is born out of a love of nature, and enjoying the earth’s colors, beauty, and outdoor activities.

Being one of six children in South Buffalo, New York, those paintings were the closest we came to the ocean and the mountains, aside from our annual summer trips to the Adirondacks.  We lived for those trips, and my parents did too.  Well, maybe we all could have done without the six hour drive in a station wagon filled with two exhausted parents and six car sick children.  But, that was the one week out of the year where we could forget the city and live ‘the good life’.  And it was awesome – fishing outside our front door, swimming in the cold lakes and rowboat rides across the lake.  I even remember, vaguely, one water helicopter ride.  My dad worked so hard to flag the pilot down, and he took me and my three older siblings for a ride which, at four years old, seemed like the perfect place to take a snooze.

But even in our city life, we learned to enjoy the simple things in nature.  We spent lots of time fishing in Lake Erie, swimming at Bay Beach, riding our bikes through the neighborhood and building forts in our tree-filled backyard.  Snowy days were spent building forts or sledding, and rainy days were spent jumping in the puddles.  Rain or shine, my parents encouraged us to spend our days outside.  Sure, maybe that was partly because six kids running around a cozy, but small South Buffalo home was less than desirable.  But, those are my fondest memories of my childhood, and I have taken them with me.  I would still rather spend any given Saturday hiking, biking or snowboarding than in front of the TV or at the mall.  And, I really think that enjoyment of the simple things in life, like the outdoors, is something I hope to pass on to my children.  Because regardless of where you live, who you are with or how much money you have, there is always something to enjoy outside.

So, as we celebrate the 39th Annual Earth Day, let’s start by enjoying and appreciating what we have out there.  So, go for a walk, ride your bike or play catch on the front lawn.  Have a picnic lunch and cook dinner on the grill.  Because without appreciating our earth, we won’t be able to take care of it.

Happy Earth Day!

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