This newspaper's front-page story described a march by "thirty college-age people."
Part of the Plattsburgh Environmental Action Committee, they walked from the Plattsburgh State campus through much of downtown Plattsburgh -- past St. John's and Broad Street schools, where students watched from windows -- and ended their trek back at the Myers Fine Arts building.
The students had a police escort, wore "Save the Earth" buttons and carried a globe of the world. While they walked, an onlooker told them, "Don't step on your hair."
The parade was one of the local events on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, and reported in the Press-Republican.
I spent the first Earth Day on the side of Route 22B in Peru. A few days earlier, Peru High School's principal, Dick Martin, had gathered the faculty in the cafeteria and spoke about Earth Day. He was passionate about it, saying it was an opportunity to change how we treated the earth, to better preserve it for the next generation. He suggested we pick up garbage after school.
I agreed, of course, but I don't know if I gathered trash to save the earth or my job. Mr. Martin -- I didn't call him by his first name until after he retired -- was one of the few people who could intimidate me just by glancing in my direction. So Bob Crepeau, Paul Barker, Kevin Kearney, Tom Loughan and I, along with many of our colleagues, collected Genesee beer cartons, hundreds of bottles and lots of unidentifiable junk that afternoon.
While we did that and the college students marched, some North Country schools taught kids about ecology, pollution and the environment, according to the Press-Republican.
NOW THE NORM
Not everyone, however, welcomed Earth Day. Some saw it as an outgrowth of the anti-Vietnam war movement -- "Don't step on your hair."
To others, it was another protest against the way America did business, another criticism of capitalism. Their bumper stickers said, "I hope you environmentalists freeze to death in the dark."
But complicated issues don't break easily into left and right political ideologies. Some of us on the side of the road opposed the war in Vietnam, some of us didn't.
In fact, the beginning of Earth Day preceded the war. In 1957, The New York Times reported on the use of DDT in Nassau County. There were no restrictions on the pesticide, and some wondered if the chemical that killed mosquitoes might be doing some unintended damage.
That led to Rachel Carson's 1962 book, "Silent Spring." Carson detailed the environmental damage caused by pesticides, especially to birds, and is often credited with starting the environmental movement. That movement led Sen. Gaylord Nelson's (D-Wisconsin) call for an Earth Day in 1970.
In retrospect, I'm surprised and delighted about how many environmental concerns and values have become the norm. We separate our garbage, and recycling is common. Bottles are redeemed for a nickel. We bring reusable bags to the grocery. Hikers are told if they pack it in to pack it out; take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. We question the consequences of agricultural sprays, and demand the data.
Even our movies tell environmental stories. We root for Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovich" and John Travolta in "Civil Action." We don't think for a moment that the only or best way to measure a corporation is by its profit.
Unfortunately, the ideological battles are still there. While "global warming" might be confusing, the phrase generates plenty of heat.
Jerry McGovern, the Press-Republican's coordinator of Newspapers-in-Education, taught in New York state's public schools, and now teaches in the Communication Department of Plattsburgh State. He can be reached at gmcgovern@pressrepublican.com or 565-4126. This column is the opinion of the writer and not necessarily of this newspaper.
