Why is Earth Day Important?

Why is Earth Day celebrated? Why is Earth Day important? One reporter reflects on the years since the first Earth Day and how far we have yet to go to clean up our environment.

Reader Contribution by Linda Holliday
article image
by AdobeStock/lovelyday12
Why is Earth Day celebrated? Why is Earth Day important? One reporter reflects on the years since the first Earth Day and how far we have yet to go to clean up our environment.

We didn’t watch much TV when I was young, partly because my mother freaked out about wasting electricity and ruining our eyes. So, for me to recall a single program is no big deal – except the CBS Special Report I remember aired 43 years ago.

I was in elementary school when newscaster Walter Cronkite presented Earth Day: A Question of Survival in 1970, the year Mother Earth News debuted. Earth Day’s founder, Sen. Gaylord Nelson, hailed from my home state of Wisconsin.

Although I didn’t understand every program point, and my dad called all activists “hippies,” the movement fascinated me because I was an outdoorsy kid building forts, sledding, fishing, swimming or just exploring. I didn’t want my world to change.

I scored an A+ on my poster project that first Earth Day. I drew a crying rabbit sitting on a stump surrounded by acres of sawn trees. He held a sign spelling P-O-L-L-U-T-I-O-N, with each letter starting corresponding words my young mind perceived as being really bad. With a dictionary, I came up with Putrid, Obscene, Loud, Lousy, Ugly, Toxic, Icky, Oily and Nasty.

  • Updated on Apr 8, 2023
  • Originally Published on Oct 10, 2013
Tagged with: earth day, Linda Holliday, Missouri, pollution, Reader Contributions
Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368