Happy Earth Day

It's not only the Pennsylvania presidential primary, it's also Earth Day.

I was struck by the news this morning that the first Earth Day was in 1970. According to Wikipedia, here's what else was going on in 1970:

Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years. At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. But Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.

Well, I don't know if we have conquered our environmental problems, but it is certainly good to hear that our air and water are cleaner than they were nearly 40 years ago.

One thing I have learned in traveling around the state for Skills Iowa is that we have a beautiful and varied state. I hope we all do what we can to insure it stays that way.

Happy Earth Day!

Here is the official U.S. Government Earth Day website. www.earthday.gov There are some interesting educational activities listed there that could be used on ANY day of the year.

Jim Lippold
Skills Iowa Project Leader
jlippold@ia-sb.org