It's the environment, stupid

When I was in 9th grade Earth Day was brought to my attention for the first time. If it had been mentioned before in my school years, I don't remember, but 9th grade, well that was the start of my liberal education.

I had a history teacher (who's name, unfortunately, is escaping me right now) who made the observance of Earth Day into a year round event. At the beginning of the year as we were handed out the sylabus she informed us we would be in competition with her other 9th grade classes to see who can collect the most recyclable cans, plastics, etc. The winners would be determined by how much money each class raised after they took their recyclables to the nearest recycling place.

The competative girl inside me was all about this. It also helped that my dad was a middle manager at one of the local recycling businesses. I would grab any and all cans, plastic milk containers and shampoo bottles that came into our house. Sometimes before they were completely empty, much to my mother's chagrin.

During the school year we kept track of our earnings. It was close and very cutthroat. I caught one of my competitors digging through the lunch trash one day.

In the end though, we won. On top of that, I was one of the highest collectors in the class. Go me.

Our reward was, well, we got to play in the dirt. On school property. With the money the combined classes collected, our teacher picked out five trees for us to plant on the school grounds. On top of that, we had our pictures placed in one of the local newspapers. Local kids doing something good.

A year ago I happened to be at my old high school for a college fair. Considering I have been out of high school for 12 years now, I expected the trees to be gone. Either paved over for a new parking lot or cut down to make room for new class rooms.

But nope, there they were. All five of them. Nice and tall. Shading the south side of the building. It made me proud to know I had a hand in putting those tall green living things in places where people could enjoy them.

In college Earth Day was celebrated along with Spring Fest. Granted, I usually spent most of Spring Fest in an alcohol induced haze, but I can remember celebrating earth day with my fellow students. We just chose to toast the earth in a, um, more adult manner.

Since I've left college the passage of Earth Day has usually come and gone without too much thought. I may take notice to it on the calendar or spend the day outside (if it happens to fall on a weekend) but beyond that, I haven't been quite the zealot for the earth that I was way back in the 9th grade. That being said, with the reintroduction of various energy and commerce bills by our overly conservative president and congress, please take a minute to read this piece from MSNBC.com.

Happy Earth Day, now go out and plant a tree or something.