Sunday Is Earth Day

One of my favorite bumper stickers is: "Earth, Love It Or Leave It". This Sunday, we all get a chance to love it on Earth Day. There are a number of local clean-up efforts going on that day, as volunteers roll up their sleeves and make their contribution to cleaning up our local portion of the planet.

Just what is Earth Day, and when did it start? Good questions. According to Wikipedia:

"Earth Day is a day each year on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment.

The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the City of Saint Francis, patron saint of ecology. Earth Day was first observed in San Francisco and other cities on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. About the same time a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970."

We can all do our part to help preserve the earth; little things. Keeping our car's tires properly inflated saves gas, using energy-efficient light bulbs saves on energy, printing out less paper documents from our computers saves trees.  Little things add up to making a big difference.