Earth Day memories...

[Sooner or later]

I was a junior in high school when we had the first Earth Day in 1970.

My school let us make posters during one of our classes. Posters would be placed in the hallways and voted on by the student body to determine the best of the lot.

We were teamed up with one other student. I drew a long haired hippy type. After a short deliberation we decided to huge spiral on our poster board. Painted the spiral with fluorescent greens and orange. It definitely stood out from the crowd.

In bold letters above the spiral we wrote...
POLLUTION SUCKS...

In tiny letters below the spiral we wrote.
The breath out of youl

Early polling showed we were in the lead. Victory was assured! Until the poster was banned from the competition and removed from the hallway. SUCKS was deemed inappropriate!

[Dixie]

I couldn't resist

[pwd72s]

https://reason.com/2000/05/01/earth-day-then-and-now-2/


"Earth Day 1970 provoked a torrent of apocalyptic predictions. "We have about five more years at the outside to do something," ecologist Kenneth Watt declared to a Swarthmore College audience on April 19, 1970. Harvard biologist George Wald estimated that "civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." "We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation," wrote Washington University biologist Barry Commoner in the Earth Day issue of the scholarly journal Environment. The day after Earth Day, even the staid New York Times editorial page warned, "Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction." Very Apocalypse Now."

Just for laughs, read the article for more predictions.

[stevej37]

We must be about the same age. I was a junior also during the first earth day.
Our school decided to load up a few buses and drop off groups of four with bags to pickup roadside trash.

It was a beautiful spring day and the legal drinking age had just dropped to 18
The bus driver made the mistake of dropping our group within walking distance of a convenience store.

The trash we turned in at the end of the afternoon were all fresh empty cans.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

https://reason.com/2000/05/01/earth-day-then-and-now-2/


"Earth Day 1970 provoked a torrent of apocalyptic predictions. "We have about five more years at the outside to do something," ecologist Kenneth Watt declared to a Swarthmore College audience on April 19, 1970. Harvard biologist George Wald estimated that "civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." "We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation," wrote Washington University biologist Barry Commoner in the Earth Day issue of the scholarly journal Environment. The day after Earth Day, even the staid New York Times editorial page warned, "Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction." Very Apocalypse Now."

Just for laughs, read the article for more predictions.

[pavegeno]

Peace, and pollution, the old fashioned way.

[A930Rocket]

I was in sixth grade. We cleaned up a small creek next to our elementary school and as we went upstream, we picked up some cans of Wynns behind a gas station. We asked them if it was theirs and they said no. 🙄

[HobieMarty]

I was 4 years old at this time in 1970, I turned 5 that September. I remember seeing the ads on TV with the old Indian, er uh, "Native American" man going around looking at all the pollution, and he had a tear run down his cheek.

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[cjh]

That ad I believe hit a lot of people in a positive way.

[varmint]

For years earth day was the day I’d install aftermarket pipes on my motorcycles.

[flatbutt]

We buried a time capsule on our high school campus. Then the city constructed a new building over the site. Oh well.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

I was 4 years old at this time in 1970, I turned 5 that September. I remember seeing the ads on TV with the old Indian, er uh, "Native American" man going around looking at all the pollution, and he had a tear run down his cheek.

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Wasn't that guy actually Italian?
Maybe it was another Native American that was portrayed by an Italian actor in an ad.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Capt. Carrera

I couldn't resist

I didn't smell bad.

[HobieMarty]

https://youtu.be/h0sxwGlTLWw?si=Ztx9SPf3XFlECJ36

Here is the commercial. I never saw any family or friends throw trash out of their cars, but I guess some people did. Maybe it was this commercial that did it for me, not sure, but have never been one to litter, it just isn't right.

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[911 Rod]

I just don't get how people can litter. What is going on in their heads?

[Zeke]

You should come to Long Beach. Every Sunday a particular race crowds every park with easy ups and BBQ's, baby cribs and even bouncers. Monday morning Parks and Recreation has to clean up several bins of trash including diapers at each park. Looks like what you see after a concert at a large venue.

[Tobra]

They have bouncers, at a Sunday picnic in the park.

[steve185]

Going down to the river with Dad, throwing the used oil filters in and watching the rainbow colors float downstream. Miss those days.

[Eric 951]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Wasn't that guy actually Italian?
Maybe it was another Native American that was portrayed by an Italian actor in an ad.

Yes, Iron Eyes Cody. He was in a few movies during that era as well. I think to get him to cry they fed him a can of Chef Boy R Dee Spaghetti right before they filmed.

[bkreigsr]