Earth Day 40 Years Later

       It's hard to imagine that 40 years have sped by since the first Earth Day. On the first one there was much less rancor than there is today whenever the environment is mentioned. The first Earth Day was designed to be a Teach-in and I remember it as a time when we all were learning about things we could do like not litter and to be more conscious of things we tossed in the trash like batteries. 40 years later those are minor points and now there are two sides to issues concerning the environment, both sides with their feet dug in deep. Here is the link to the official web site. Here is a tidbit from Wikipedia: "On 22 April 1970, Earth Day marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated. Denis Hayes and his staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values." I like the part about "shared common values" the best. If only we could begin and end our debates these days about topics like Global Warming with a statement that says we realize that we share common values and that the goal of our discussions should be to unite, not divide; the goal should be to respect one another's opinions, not make fun of Al Gore; the goal should be to teach each another what can be done by us all no matter how small and insignificant it might appear.