As a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for our planet`s environment, the first "Earth Day" was celebrated on April 22, 1970. The growing eco-activism in our country in the mid-1960s saw events such as Congress passing the sweeping Wilderness Act, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas asking "Who speaks for the trees?" and Rachel Carson writing Silent Spring, a tale of DDT`s devastation, all helping to set the stage for Earth Day. Earth Day was founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin as a decentralized, grassroots effort in which each community was to shape their action around local environmental concerns. Nelson chose the week of 4/19-4/25 to maximize the participation on college campuses and then selected 4/22, the birth date of St. Francis of Assisi who many consider the world`s first environmentalist. He apparently found additional support for this date when he recognized that it was also the birthday for Julius Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day and Eddie Albert (of Green Acres fame), a staunch environmentalist.
The history of Earth Day is all very interesting but if Senator Nelson`s intent was to encourage communities to address their local environmental concerns, isn`t that something that we can do every day?
Thanks to the wisdom of our commissioners we`ll have curbside recycling within a month allowing us to boost our recycling rate to at least the national average. So now what? Perhaps we should yet again follow the example set by out youngest citizens, our school`s student government who has adopted the roadside between the Jiffy Store and their school to clean-up and prevent littering. Consider the following facts as complied by Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (http://www.kab.org):
* Litter carried into our local waterways has the potential for serious environmental contamination and harm to our marine life
* Our country spends $11.5 billion each year for litter clean-up
* Over 51 billion pieces of litter land on US roadways each year or 6730 pieces per mile
* Litter in a community decreases property values by 7%
Litter begets litter. A clean community by contrast discourages littering and improves overall community quality of life.
We need to open our eyes to this blight that afflicts our community. So let`s celebrate Earth Day EVERY DAY by taking responsibility as stewards of our environment by:
* Choosing not to litter
* Reminding others not to litter and why
* Volunteering to help prevent and clean-up litter -- Eileen Bowers | 
