Earth Day! Click a picture to enhance it. Blue text = a clickable linkEarth Day, tomorrow, 22 April, we are all invited to pause, think, and maybe do some specific task that reinforces for us the importance of this earth on which we live. I'll be vegetable gardening. American Earth Day began in America 1970 when Senator Gayland Nelson from Wisconsin, came together with Congressman Pete McCloskey to run some environment campus workshops, after being extremely disturbed at the consequences of a huge oil spill. They were joined by activist Denis Hayes who saw opportunity, sensed a sympatheic national mood, came up with the name Earth Day, built a fit-for-purpose organisation and engaged the participation of millions of US citizens. Over the next decade Earth Day then continued to be a feature of US public life. GlobalThe Earth Day site has this to say about the next step in growth. 'As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders approached Denis Hayes again, to organize another major campaign for the planet. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. ' No wonder then, that YouTube has a hatful of videos promoting this year's Earth Day. Here is one. Aotearoa, New ZealandYes, Earth Day, as a day to remember, is around the world but this is what I said in 2919 when I first wrote about it. 'In my country, New Zealand, I've hardly heard anything about it this year. 'These last few weeks none of my acquaintances have been talking about Earth Day. Most don't seem to know it exists. Easter and then ANZAC Day, on the 25th, are much more on the radar. And an internet search revealed ony a few events, scattered throughout the country, to mark the day.' That was 2019. Unfortunately little seems to have changed. Now in 2023 an internet search brings only sparse gleanings. I can find some tips for teaching children and Stuff, a major news outlet, has a feature which includes ideas for celebrating the day. SubmergedWhy in New Zealand is Earth Day not on the top shelf of days to be noticed ? First, I think it has become submerged – overwhelmed, hidden, lost. It is lost in change. We don't worry about environment as such, any more. We worry instead about climate change, global warming, sea level rise, plastic pollution and biodiversity decline. Terms have changed. Second, April 22 is far too close to April 25. April 25 is Anzac Day. That is New Zealand's great commemorative day, when we play the Last Post and the Reveille in honour of all those New Zealanders and Australians who lost their lives fighting for freedom and liberty, particularly during the first and second world wars. Third, Earth Day is masked by Easter. When I wrote in 2019, Earth Day was Easter Monday. Fourth, Earth Day has an American history that may hinder New Zealand news outlets and their readers from embracing it. America generates bad press at times. Child shooting right now, for instance. The nitty grittyI'd like Earth Day to be an important day in Aotearoa, New Zealand. However, the essence – the nitty gritty – is not the day but the state of our world. I don't mind that the day is lost in ANZAC Day. Those who gave their lives should be honoured and I imagine that if they were alive, they would be as concerned about the state of our world as we are. They too, I am certain, would want what we call climate change, or global warming or sea level rise or biodiversity decline or plastic pollution to be faced and beaten just as they wanted the enemies of their time to be faced and beaten. Yes, I will acknowedge Earth Day as such, tomorow, but, more than that, I'll hope for action in the next months and years to tackle and defeat the probems of which the being-forgotten Earth Day is a marker. □ John McInnes Friday 21 April 2023 ##########
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