Talk:Earth Day

Event

An event in this article is a April 22 selected anniversary earth day is also,Jeremiah wilsons birthday IT IS STILL IN QUESTION WHY THE 22 IS CHOSEN FOR EARTH DAY?

Whew!

Jeez ! When I added a bit to, and slightly rearranged (mainly for grammar and common sense) the Lenin-birthday segment, and threw in some stuff about the run-up and aftermath of the 1970 observance, I had NO idea there was all this discussion raging behind my ass. The comments about the Lenin birthday coincidence seem to me to be stacking about ten tons of baggage on top of a very small burro. The date thing is 99.999% coincidence, and if there's really even a .0001% non-coincidental aspect, I'd be very surprised. As I noted in an aside, Woodstock fell on Napoleon's 200th birthday. I think it's the combination of BOTH coincidences that's kind of interesting, but purely as trivia. Right-wing critiques of environmentalism CAN have some value. For example, there's an old piece in the libertarian Reason mag critiquing the Love Canal (toxic waste) liability issue, which makes a convincing case that the corporation responsible for the waste is being somewhat scapegoated - the waste-dumping itself was inexcusable, but a later decision to build houses on top of it came from the public sector. I also have some grudging respect for some anti-environmental arguments that come out of the mad-dog LaRouche movement - not because they disprove the importance of ecology per se, but because they remind us of how easy it is to insert hidden agendas into environmental issues, especially when it's the global elite of billionaires preaching austerity. But this business of piling arguments on top of the Lenin-birthday coincidence is just plain stupid.

There are actually very, very few people who have ever seriously tried to make an "organic" connection between Leninism and ecology in theory or practice. There are plenty of Leftists who take ecology seriously, but like "bourgeois" economists, most regard ecology as an "externality" - ie, something else that's going on, that's worth noticing and dealing with, in addition to their Leftist concerns. For the record, I do believe there is a powerful and fundamental connection, in that the distribution (and control) of the earth's limited resources is the central ecological issue AND the central issue in Marxism-Leninism. This, however, does NOT automatically lead to a logical conclusion that EITHER or BOTH movements are equipped to address this central issue in a useful way, either in theory or in practice. Nor does it automatically lead to any need to limit democracy, or to eliminate corporations, capitalism, or a dynamic private sector. It is a vast and urgent problem, calling for "drastic" solutions, but a well-designed and accurately targetted solution could be minimally disruptive. Personally, I believe the problem lies in the area of accounting - which makes a practice of devaluing or no-valuing nature. The ideas of Howard T. Odum - most of which seem to be inaccessible or buried in other stuff - have struck me as a promising approach, but so far I have only a superficial acquaintance with his theories. -Chelydra

Further changes to the Lenin birthday section

I decided the stuff about Reds and Greens, most of which I rewrote or added a couple of weeks ago, really doesn't belong here. I took it out. As you can see from my last note here, I do think it's a significant discussion, well worth including in an appropriate spot in Wikipedia - possibly under Green politics (or green politics with a small G), which I haven't checked out yet. The point is that the Lenin's birthday issue is, and always was, more a trivia item than a central point - until someone can prove otherwise, for example by finding a substantial clue in documents dating back to the planning of the first Earth Day and setting the date. But even if the coincidence was remarked on by any Earth Day organizers at the time, and even if they actually made a point of setting the date to coincide with the Lenin centenary, I'd STILL dispute its significance! Is that because I'm an idiot or a Leninist (or both)? No, it's because I'd attribute it to meaningless revolutionary posturing, which was almost universally indulged in by everyone who was playing around with (substitute "engaged in" if you prefer) politics at that particular moment. It would have been intended as an inside joke. It would almost certainly not, however, have been a genuinely Leninist inside joke, because actual Leninists were as rare as hen's teeth among American political activists at that time, other than a few Old Left labor organizers and CPUSA types who probably would have regarded Earth Day as a petit bourgeois distraction from the main issues of supporting Moscow and Hanoi (and Havana etc) in their struggle against capitalist aggression (I'm putting words in their mouths). Communists didn't even like the uprising in France in 1968, in which a lot of workers as well as students were trying to overthrow the government - it was too spontaneous. Earth Day probably would have been beneath contempt. SDS didn't even like Earth Day! [1]

I would not discourage right-wing Wikipedians from using articles to red-bait environmentalists. But red-baiting is an evolved art form, with its own traditions and standards. It shouldn't be done haphazardly, or it's pointless name-calling. To see how to do it well, and learn by example, check out The Schwarz Report, named in honor of Dr. Fred Schawrz, published by the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (founded 1953) - they can be contacted at P.O. Box 129, Manitou Spring, CO 80829, phone (719) 685-9043. I am not endorsing their point of view, just saying I think they do a good job and sometimes come up with some substantial burbs arguments, and they have a grasp of the philosophical issues too. - Chelydra

Added 1980 Earth Day. Also: requests to helpful editors

This is getting a bit long. I do think what I've been adding is pretty good, but someone skilled in copy-editing might want to tighten it up a bit. Also, there are a couple of format tricks I haven't yet mastered, so this could use your help in making the footnote format consistent (I've just inserted references into the body of the text, when they ought to go at the bottom). The note on Pogo/Walt Kelly will take you to Kelly's 1970 Earth Day poster. (This is NOT the 1971 comic strip on the Pogo page.) This would make a fine addition to the page (there's been a request for more pictures) but I can't do it (yet).

THIS JUST IN! BULLETIN! LENIN AND ECOLOGY!

Guess what, gang! In drifting around the 'net I somehow found myself comtemplating an on-line translation of Lenin's philosophical polemic, Empiro-Criticism and Materialism (I think I was searching for Haeckel) and there it is - EVIDENCE of an indirect connection between Lenin and ecology! Ernst Haeckel is the guy who coined the word ecology - in 1899 or so Haeckel wrote The Riddle of the Universe, an exercise in popular science writing that had a huge impact on public opinion, according to Lenin - Lenin had a lot of left-handed (what other kind would you expect from him?) compliments for Haeckel, even devoting a chapter to a near-endorsement of Haeckel's book, on the grounds that it took a strong stand in favor of materialism and natural science, as opposed to the sort of airy-fairy "New Age" thinking being promoted by Lenin's target, Ernst Mach (himself a scientist, but a bit of a mystic). So there we go! However, I still think that any evidence of a conscious attempt by Earth Day's organizers to keep their date on Lenin's 100th birthday should be dismissed as irrelevant radical posturing, like the waving of Viet Cong flags and such, which was quite fashionable and quite meaningless at that moment in American history. NOTE TOO that Lenin's discussion of Haeckel's book NOWHERE mention's ecology - the word and the concept lay dormant for a long time, probably about 60 years, after Haeckel came up with the word in the 1860s. So this isn't REALLY a connection, but it's still worth mentioning since we've devoted about 100,000 words to this argument. -Chelydra

History error

I'm not so old that I don't remember celebrating Earth Day before I went into the USMC, so it started (perhaps not by a Senator eager to lead the parade that was already marching) in 1967 or 1968.

Nelson quote

Nelson viewed the stabilization of the nation's population as an important aspect of environmentalism and later said: "The bigger the population gets, the more serious the problems become ... We have to address the population issue. The United Kingdom, with the U.S. supporting it, took the position in Cairo in 1994 that every country was responsible for stabilizing its own population. It can be done. But in this country, it's phony to say 'I'm for the environment but not for limiting immigration.'" Nelson died in 1981.

advce

make pupils awer about the issue

Earth Day Anthem

There is an Earth Day anthem at http://www.earthdayanthem.org

Just FYI. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.27.49.51 (talk) 13:13, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Earth Day Anthem

Before you do your knee-jerk delete, I would like you to:

a. be bold, in the spirit of Wikipedia

b. see how folks like this addition

c. think for yourself, and not be timid

d. think for yourself, and not look to others for approval or guidance

e. make a difference

Call this a "defining" moment in your life. Be safe, or take a chance and do something. I did.

The biggest risk you take in life? Is to never take a risk. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.61.24.26 (talk) 01:11, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

Lenin's birthday and Earth Day

There was a tradition in Soviet Union and now it is in Russia, that April 22 is celebrated by working as volunteers, usually cleaning parks, streets, or plant trees. In Soviet times millions of people would come out on Saturday, preceeding the date, to work and there would be slogans everywhere and motivational music. After that Saturday special day, everywhere was so incredibly clean. Nowadays not that many people come out, but still it is considered a day to clean up environment and plant trees. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Inherentnature (talk • contribs) 03:49, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Denis Hayes, Not DeNNis Hayes

Third occurrence of Mr. Hayes' name is misspelled with two Ns, and links to article on wrong person in the Wikipedia. 108.14.215.232 (talk) 02:15, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Fixed.--Hjal (talk) 04:52, 20 April 2010 (UTC)