Earth Day? Black History Month?

I don't think many people will disagree that we need to clean up the planet - and clean up our environmental act! The platitudes of the '60s hippies (and I was one, full disclosure) to eat vegan, recycle and reuse and take care of the environment are trendy -- again. Everyone got fat and happy there for awhile, but the Earth needs to be back on a diet and nowadays more people seem to be on board.

So, do we really need an "Earth Day?" Has that outlived its usefulness? Shouldn't every day be Earth Day?

I feel the same way about Black History Month and Women's History Month ... haven't we gotten to the place where those subjects should be taught, period, not just for one month a year? Having a month set aside for those "special" topics seems to demean them somehow, like they are not worthy of teaching all year, but 30 days? Well, that's about right.

So, Happy Earth Day! Go to BriarPatch and celebrate!

Comments

[Zuri]

You may be right. We don't need days or months or weeks for remembrance and history. But I think your other point speaks more clearly to why we do need a day like Earth day and month like Black History month: It's trendy.

While we think it's stuff that should be taught and should be recognized on a regular basis, you'd be surprised at how many school districts in California don't teach black history (Chico Unified comes to mind). You'd also be surprised how many communities that have no idea what Juneteenth is and why it is important to the black community. So while these themes may not seem useful to us because we're educated on the issues, we're not the ones needing reminding.