Earth Day: A Day to Remember

The ubiquitous “they” say that there are certain dates that stick in your mind. The Space Shuttle and 911 of course, but the very first Earth Day was one of those dates for me, and I remember it well.

Being a kid, my thoughts that day were simple — getting an afternoon off school (more specifically math class) was a dream scenario, and undoubtedly had no real intention of doing much clean up. However — and here’s the beautiful part — that day did what the founders intended — it made me aware of my surroundings and helped me realize what our actions as humans were doing to our environment. Who knew learning could be fun?

The lesson for all of us is two-fold: dedicating just one day to the health of our shared environment is a great first step and helps us understand how our actions affect each other and makes each of us individually accountable; but more importantly it spotlights that educating the youngest members of our society is vital in the way we move forward as a society. Do what our small group of teachers and leaders did 40 years ago — make it fun, educational and relevant. The children we educate today are who will continue to carry the environmental torch forward and pass it along to the next generation, and isn’t this the very definition of sustainability? A very few innovators in my generation (the poster-children of use and throw away by the way) were able to make a difference to a larger group, why wouldn’t a larger number of forward-thinkers be able to make an even bigger impact tomorrow?

I’m proud to live in Oregon where the legacy of Earth Day has really taken hold, and we take our inheritance of environmental stewardship seriously. Every day is Earth Day at OEC as we work to find solutions to Oregon’s challenges for today and future generations.