Celebrate (for a change)

Earth Day should be a welcome pause from the frightening and the overwhelming

April 20, 2004|By Betsy Vandercook. Betsy Vandercook directs the UICycle recycling program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and founded Earth Month at UIC.

Some of my environmentalist friends aren't too keen about Earth Day. They say that planting a few trees or sowing a few native prairie seeds trivializes the long-term efforts needed to reverse the planet's environmental decline.

Of course, it's true. One day is not going to save anything, even your back yard. So environmental organizers have started spreading out Earth Day like garden compost, pushing it back a few weeks to April 1 and forward to May, creating an entire "Earth Month."

But what's the point of biking in April but commuting in a sport-utility vehicle for the rest of the year? Maybe it would be better to forget the whole month idea and just try to make every day Earth Day. Or at least buy the bumper sticker.

Personally, I have another problem with packing in events around April 22. I, too, am a professional environmentalist, and honestly, Earth Day/Week/Month comes down to a lot of extra work. I don't mean to complain, but all year long, we folks spend our time organizing recycling conferences or tending gardens or testing for water pollutants. So here we are in April, "celebrating" by doing the same. Only more.

It's not that fighting global warming and reducing mercury pollution aren't important ways to spend our time. But everything is such heavy lifting, calling for heightened consciousness and full-time dedication.

People may want to join us for a gardening workshop, but for life? I think we should surprise everyone, grit our teeth, and show that even environmentalists can have some real fun--at least for a few hours.

Other groups have learned the trick. The Irish have a long and difficult history that stretches into the present tense. But do they celebrate St. Patrick's Day by planting potatoes? It's parades and music they collectively enjoy, along with a pint or two of Guinness.

Maybe they've got something there. Rather than organizing yet another river cleanup, how about if we hold our own gala parade on State Street? Let's invite Mayor Richard M. Daley to lead off as grand marshal, tipping our hats to his efforts to create America's most eco-friendly city.

The floats would follow, built from recovered wood, depicting great moments in environmental history: John Muir founding the Sierra Club; President Richard Nixon signing the Clean Air Act.

On Earth Day, everyone gets to be green. Administrators from the Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago's Department of the Environment would sit on the back seats of hybrid and hydrogen-fueled cars, tossing seed packets to the joyous crowds.

And oh, how the bands would play, featuring schools like Lane Tech, sporting green marching uniforms. Northwestern University would have to sit this one out.

Tasty locally grown food would be everywhere, and there would be no vegan-based criticism of those eating free-range chicken.

We'd all get along for one day.

Recycling bins would be set up on every corner, and organic fruit drinks would only be sold in recyclable aluminum cans. The litter-free parade route would hardly need to be swept after the last float passed.

At the end of the parade, would there be speeches about melting glaciers and dying coral reefs? As few as possible. The day should be a welcome pause from the frightening and the overwhelming, and it should celebrate what we still have--from prairies to cleaner lakes to air that is more or less breathable.

If this were the kind of day we organized to honor the environment, once a year might be enough. By April 23, we'd be refreshed and ready to put our shoulders back to the massive work before us. And maybe, in the wake of the celebration, there would be more of us willing to start doing our part for the Earth, every day.