April 22, 2008 8:46 AM

Was Anyone Else Alive on the First Earth Day?

So it's Earth Day. If you are like me, you have already gotten a dozen or so emails imploring you to take any number of thoughtful actions that will make a difference.

But I was around on the first Earth Day, and Richard Nixon was president. Watergate had not yet happened. We had not even invaded Cambodia. But there was an environmental movement sufficiently feared by the Administration that Congress passed and Nixon signed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Neither were perfect and represented the typical painful compromises with special interests. But both pieces of legislation slowly made a huge difference.

George W. Bush does not fear the environmental movement. My request for this Earth Day is that amidst all your recycling, light bulb changing, bicycle commuting, and short showering, that you join the environmental movement (perhaps the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund - note, I am on the board). Science is not convincing George, so lets try something else.