An Earth Day Blast from the Past

deborah — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In 1990 I spent Earth Day at Central Park where I and thousands of others watched the b52s rock out. I was 25 then and this is the first real Earth Day celebration I remember. It was huge and Earth Day was finally being celebrated all over the city - and all over the world. I remember a reporter asking some people sitting near us if they were environmentally conscious all year round, or just for Earth Day and the b52s. The people told him they were very much into the environment, but they left soon after and their soda cans were on the lawn.

I also remember all the people sitting in the trees trying to get a closer look at the show. Speakers such as Ralph Nader and Jane Fonda and the performers kept begging the people not to sit in the trees, but they were still going up there.

I don't now how much of the message was sinking in then, but I'm happy to see it sinking in now.

While we're discussing Earth Day 1990, check out this video from an Earth Day special that same year - it features a young looking Meryl Streep and Kevin Costner:

It may sound smug but I was feeling kind of superior on Earth Day in 1990. My parents recycled since I was a toddler. We used to go on hikes to clean up the Appalachian Trail and we were taught to take care of the earth at a very early age. If that reporter spoke to me that Earth Day I would have told him I thought about the earth year round. And when I left, there would have been nothing left behind.

Image: EarthDayNY.org