I was a senior in high school at the time of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. In observance, I joined a small group of classmates who organized a Saturday morning cleanup of the beach in our Lake Michigan town.
Apparently we didn’t organize very well, because no one outside our group showed up, and even some of our own fellow planners weren’t there. We gave up in frustration and went home.
Thankfully, Earth Day took deeper root nationally and worldwide than it did in our community that day. Progress on clean air, water and land has been remarkable, and
