Shades of Green

April 21, 2010 • 2:32 pm • POSTED BY anna hartley

Forty years ago, on April 22, Earth Day began as a massive grassroots movement (please excuse the pun) to raise awareness about environmental issues. The original demonstration attracted nearly 20 million people who engaged in marches and teach-ins. Today, Earth Day is a global phenomenon. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps you’ve even used phrases like “carbon footprint” and “go green” and “organic” before. Though I’ll admit that I will probably never create an actual compost pile, and I’ve had entire conversations about carbon offsets in which I had no idea what I was talking about, I’m all for environmental conservation.  The earth is good, and we should be good to it.

In honor of earth day, hemp bracelets, National Parks, bicycles, and back-to-the-land, here are a few things that we earthlings should consider doing more often.

-  Ride bikes (no hands, if you’re good) to work. And then zip over to a body of water where you can skip stones.  Enjoy the sunshine. Appreciate the flowers. Do not make a daisy chain.

-  Eat an entire apple, including the core*, in order to prove that waste is unnecessary.

- Shun unnecessary packaging (publicly, if possible), and bring your own bag to the grocery store.

- Use the word green as a term of endearment. As in, “What up, Green? I like those new water-soluble, zero carbon footprint shoes you’ve got on.”

-  Begin growing a dreadlock as a tacit reminder to use less shower water. By next year, you’ll have both a conversation piece and proof that you gave back.

In the meantime, check out this awesome photo retrospective from National Geographic–especially the one of people camped out on Independence Mall in Philly.

Happy (early) Earth Day!

*160over90 not liable if this causes you to grow an apple tree in your stomach.