35 Years of Pretending We Care

April 22, 2005 7:02 AM

Happy Earth Day!Today is the 35th celebration of the world's biggest secular holiday--a time for platitudes and complacency. Of course, beyond global warming, there's also an ongoing mass extinction. Might such tokens as "Earth Day" be serving more to make us ignore our environmental problems than focusing on them?
posted by jefgodesky (25 comments total)

Environmental problems? What environmental problems?

/not an endorsement of the opinions expressed within the article
posted by The Dryyyyy Cracker at 7:12 AM on April 22, 2005

Might such tokens as "Earth Day" be serving more to make us ignore our environmental problems than focusing on them?

I'd say that anything which raises awareness of environmental issues is a net good.
Does Earth Day distract focus and attention from more critical environmental issues?
I'd say that it provides a platform for raising and discussing the issues.
Does Earth Day provide a salve for a guilty conscience of the slackers who are not actively working for a better planet? Perhaps, but would they have taken action either way?

Love Your Mother.
posted by nofundy at 7:18 AM on April 22, 2005

This is bigger than New Year's Day? Or Armistice Day?

'Cause both of those are secular.
posted by Dagobert at 7:20 AM on April 22, 2005

Cause both of those are secular.

As are President's Day, MLK Day, Labor Day, and Independence Day. I know that most of these are American only, but surely other countries have equivalents, and I suspect that in most countries Earth day ends up coming in dead last behind all the other secular holidays.
posted by unreason at 7:25 AM on April 22, 2005

I get my environmental policy from Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore.
posted by Kwantsar at 7:25 AM on April 22, 2005

There are a few different calendars, each with it's own New Year's ... and Armistice Day is only in a few countries. Earth Day is (supposedly) international.

My question about it doing more harm than good lay primarily with the empty platitudes issued. We have our little Earth Day, and we think we've done our bit for the year and stop there. Might it be helping to make us complacent about the environment, convinced we've done enough with 1/365th of the year?
posted by jefgodesky at 7:26 AM on April 22, 2005

The current administration and Halliburton celebrate earth day by endangering your water supply.
posted by Mr_Zero at 7:32 AM on April 22, 2005

Ha! Yes! Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world, with some 22 million people taking part.
posted by jefgodesky at 7:34 AM on April 22, 2005

Ha! Yes! Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world, with some 22 million people taking part.

How do you work that out? US Independence Day is celebrated pretty much universally by Americans, who number, I believe, about 280 million, over 10 times your figure.
posted by unreason at 7:37 AM on April 22, 2005

Kwanstar, from your article, with a few relevant links added by myself...

"Life in these developing countries is still nasty, brutish and short. And that there is a reason our parents and grandparents worked so hard to create modern homes and hospitals and technologies, so they could leave behind the unsafe water, dung fires, pollution, rotted teeth, infant mortality and life expectancies half or ours," said Driessen.

unreason,

How do you work that out? US Independence Day is celebrated pretty much universally by Americans, who number, I believe, about 280 million, over 10 times your figure.

*shrug* That's what the links told me. If we can't trust the inter-web, who can we trust?
posted by jefgodesky at 7:43 AM on April 22, 2005

That might be why, I got the numbers all confussled. It's not 22 million, it's half a billion.
posted by jefgodesky at 7:47 AM on April 22, 2005

That might be why, I got the numbers all confussled. It's not 22 million, it's half a billion.

Ah. I still doubt that that's the biggest, then. As a communist nation, China, I believe, celebrates May Day. It has a population of 1.2 billion.

It also celebrates the Chinese New Year. Both holidays are secular.
posted by unreason at 7:54 AM on April 22, 2005

You may well be right, but if I'm wrong, at least I'm wrong with a lot of other people.
posted by jefgodesky at 8:00 AM on April 22, 2005

One of my UCDavis buddies referred to Earth Day as 'a green-washed hippie mall', which was apropos, considering the state of the Davis' festival.

Jefgodesky: I'd think either of the New Year celebrations would beat Earth Day for sheer numbers.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:07 AM on April 22, 2005

I think Earth Day would be more popular if there were more festivities involved. Involving silly hats and fatty foods.
posted by unreason at 8:39 AM on April 22, 2005

Congress joins in on the Earth Day celebration by approving a bill to allow drilling in ANWR. Go, Earth!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:03 AM on April 22, 2005

World Ocean Day is coming up in a couple of weeks, in case you care to celebrate the other 70% of our planet*.

*Yeah, I know today is about the whole Earth and not just the dirt. S'jest.
posted by piskycritter at 9:13 AM on April 22, 2005

Ian McEwan: The Hot Breath of Civilization
posted by muckster at 9:28 AM on April 22, 2005

I still prefer Agnostica, the holiday about science centered around QM Day. Learn more here.
posted by mystyk at 9:43 AM on April 22, 2005

"I took a poo in the woods hunched over like an animal. It was awesome."

Ahh the simple things in life...

Too bad a snake didn't bite her.
posted by a3matrix at 10:03 AM on April 22, 2005

Of course, arguing about whether or not Earth Day is the biggest secular holiday in the world is much more constructive than discussing the actual issues that involve the Earth.
posted by trey at 10:13 AM on April 22, 2005

I think Earth Day would be more popular if there were more festivities involved. Involving silly hats and fatty foods.

Well, I think we've got you covered on the silly hats: Procession of the Species. No official inclusion of fatty foods, but I guess you could bring donuts or pork rinds or something.

(Unfortunately the above link only helps if you're in the Western Washington area. And if you are, look for the group of rats!)
posted by Vervain at 10:30 AM on April 22, 2005

I've got a funny feeling that more people know Hitler's birthday (April 20) then know when Earth Day is. I never remember. I don't know when Arbor Day is either.

Also: The Earth is not my mother. Maureen is my mother. I remember her birthday. I remember Mother's Day. Because she means more to me than some silly idea that the Earth is somehow fragile.

Well the earth isn't fragile. It's a giantic rock in the middle of space 100 million miles from a mass of incandesent gas. We are a mere blip in the Earth's 5 billion year history.

Volcanos give off more pollution than humans have. Animals kill other animals more than humans do.

And the last time I checked, extinction is a part of life. Death happens, and when human start saving animals that can't survive anymore, that's when humans start screwing with nature.

So today is Earth Day. I'm much more excited that today is Friday.
posted by TacoConsumer at 11:58 AM on April 22, 2005

While you're right that other factors produce more than we do, there was previously a balance between those two, which have been disrupted as of late. Imagine a scale perfectly balanced with giant boulders on each side--and then dumping some pebbles on one side.

We produce a lot of crap, but compared to what's produced naturally, you're right, it's not all that much. But it's enough to be disastrous.

And you're right, extinction--like death--is part of life. However, if you kill 6 million people in five years, we generally consider that a bad thing. And when you're seeing extinction rates thousands of times higher than the normal background rate of extinction, that's called a mass extinction event. There've only been a few (it varies somewhat depending on who you talk to, but it's always less than ten), and we're living in one of them. And it's very obvious that we're the ones to blame.
posted by jefgodesky at 12:41 PM on April 22, 2005

TacoConsumer, you are my new MeFi hero -- for putting into words what I was thinking -- thank you.

And "world's biggest secular holiday?" Phffft. Not a holiday in my book; a holiday is something that is celebrated, and I sure didn't celebrate "earth day."
posted by davidmsc at 6:26 PM on April 22, 2005