Tag Archives: #southdakota

EARTH DAY 2024…

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When I was five in 1971 an ad aired frequently of a Native American man paddling a canoe through a stream and crying as teenagers threw garbage out of a car window. The ad ran for years and made me sad. (See link below.)

In response to the crying man in the canoe, my friend Jon and I walked around town and picked up trash for fun. This made us feel like very good young citizens.

2024’S EARTH DAY theme: PLANET V. PLASTICS

NOTE: Later, I learned that the companies behind Keep America Beautiful wanted to stop laws that would make them sell drinks in reusable bottles. This lobbying group wanted voters to look at the ad and think people made pollution one person at a time. Keep America Beautiful did not want people to think that big companies caused pollution. A practice that continues today.

“The great question of the Seventies is…shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water.”

—President Nixon from his first State of the Union address in 1970

    SOURCES & RESOURCES: 

    LINK TO KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL AD:  https://youtu.be/h0sxwGlTLWw?feature=share

    https://www.nixonfoundation.org/

    https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/news/earth-day

    https://www.earthday.org/factsheets/

    https://earth911.com/inspire/earth-day-23-quotes/

    the beauty of garbage?

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    This summer I spent a lot of early mornings walking Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, Mass picking up garbage. What started July 5th as a way to make the weekend better for everyone turned into something else.

    Late in August, I wanted to sleep in, but I realized that I had really habituated or even ritualized my beach clean-up. I had become obsessive. I panicked that if I didn’t pick up garbage that day some kid could cut their foot and ruin their family’s much-needed vacation, or people would think Town Neck is a gross beach and not want to return.

    My hypothetical thoughts raced. This wasn’t actually my job. I decided I had to take the day off, I was getting a little weird about it all.

    Looking back at my summer now, I’m really proud of what I did. I felt purposeful in a time of American life that feels so surreal. I was thanked by many other sunrise beach walkers. I met some really interesting people. And as a photographer, the light was just so gorgeous every single day sun or fog or in-between. I found a lot of shovels and toys, but of course people are naturally leery about picking up things like that now.

    These photos may make some people disappointed in humanity, but rest assured all of these items were picked up and saved from polluting the ocean during the next high tide. Now, on to the streets of Burlington, Vermont.