By Norris McDonald
It is really cold today. Welcome to Earth Day 2013. Usually it is cold AND rainy. Who came up with this date anyway. Well I know but let's leave them out of it for the moment. April 22 is a horrible date for Earth Day. It is too early. It should be on May 22 or June 22. The weather is always more conducive to outdoor activities a month or two later in the year. Now I am not trying to disparage the original founders of Earth Day (Denis Hayes and Gaylord Nelson), but I am suggesting that it might be time for an official change. Anybody out there with me on this? Speak up. Let's change the date.
Earth Day received almost no attention this year. Sometimes it gets a lot of attention and some years it does not. Clearly the Boston Marathon bombing incident domoinated the news cycle right up through today. Yet, I think the sluggish economy has the collective mind elsewhere. Has the public tired of hearing about global warming? Do they care? And is the Keystone XL Pipeline the best top environmental issue the movement can come up with as a motivating issue? It reminds me of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) issue. Most regular Americans simply will not get too worked up over it. Without a compelling issue or issues to inspire the public, Earth Day does not seem to have juice.
Alas, Earth Day is invisible this year.
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