April 22nd is my birthday. It was not a day marked by any special notation on calendars while I was growing up. But all that changed in 1970, the date of the first Earth Day.
April 22nd 1970, Earth Day New York coincided with a subway strike. I remember because I was a volunteer for earth day events and had to find alternative ways to commute from Jackson Heights, Queens to Manhattan. I recall hiking over the bridge down to 34th Street and setting up a table with small terra cotta flowerpots containing dirt. I tied a pretty green ribbon around each pot and called the set-up "Earth Day Earth". They were priced at $5.00 each. I thought these clever little pots would sell like Pet Rocks (remember those). The proceeds were to go toward supporting environmental activities. Sad to say, I didn't sell a single little flower pot-not one captured anyone's fancy.
Forty years later, Earth Day 2010, observed with events throughout the US celebrates the history and future of the modern environmental movement. Anyone for a pot of Earth Day Earth?
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