Today Kristi dug up one our favorite old "hippie" buttons which reads "Everyday is Earth Day" and put it on. Of course that's the way it should be. Unfortunately, it isn't. Some foresighted folks many decades ago had Earth Day officially designated to insure that the environment got some national attention at least once a year.

It was lonely celebrating Earth Day back 15 - 20 years ago. But Kristi and I did it every year. For a number of years we reserved the state Capitol Rotunda in Springfield and set up a big display about environmental issues in Southern Illinois. We oftentimes were the only ones in the Rotunda with an Earth Day presentation. We would get a lot of school kids that came to tour the capitol building to walk past our displays, and sometimes we got really good press coverage from the capitol press corps - especially if the legislature wasn't in session, which was most of the time. Funny how they almost never were in session on Earth Day - the one day they should have been working!

But the last few years I've not done anything special on Earth Day but quietly think about the environment and what Earth Day means. I don't go to special events, or even talk about the environment to anyone unless they bring it up. It isn't that I'm not aware of it or don't care. I do care and I am aware.

But Earth Day has become a tool of greenwashing in so many ways that I just can't embrace the holiday like I did. I do feel that the peak of the big corporations using Earth Day for greenwashing their image was a few years ago, and that real concern over the urgency of the myriad of serious environmental problems that our society faces is starting to influence Earth Day in a positive way, but still, when you see international corporations like Monsanto, Exxon, Waste Management, ad nauseum, portraying themselves as somehow environmentally sound and responsible when in reality they have turned a blind eye to the environment for decades and have been responsible for untold environmental destruction, it just gets to me. It just isn't honest. But then again, when has honesty been one of the outstanding qualities of some of these big corporations?

What really gets me is that the current environmental situation of our planet calls for concrete, urgent changes in the way we all live. The so called "developed" societies cannot continue to use up the earth's resources in a totally disproportionate manner and expect to live sustainably in peace. Yet, the greenwashing of these companies inevitably tries to convince the people that we really don't have to change a lot in the way we live - that we can keep our current lifestyles and still protect the environment. I just don't believe that is true. And, I believe that trying to convince people that as long as we use compact fluorescent bulbs, keep our tires at the proper inflation, turn the thermostat up or down a few degrees, etc etc is going to allow us to continue to maintain our current way of life is irresponsible.

The problems we face range from the warming of the planet to the accumulation of unnatural chemicals, heavy metals, and radiation in the environment, the generation and disposal of massive amounts of plastic and other trash, habitat degradation resulting in rapid rates of extinction, and on and on.

Dealing with these problems is going take dealing honestly with such things as population, wealth distribution, political and economic exploitation, energy and transportation production, water quality, air pollution, creating and maintaining true democracy, etc. The greenwashing corporations don't want to address these real issues, because it might mean that they no longer can rack up obscene profits on the backs of everyday people. But this is why corporations exist.

So I hope for the earth. I love the earth and creation. All of the creatures and the wonder of it all makes this life magnificent. We should celebrate it and protect it every day. Every day IS Earth Day, and if we don't come to realize it and live truly as if that were true, I'm afraid that our species is headed down a path where problems will become more severe and more frequent. We're already seeing it.