Earth Day

April 22.
So, it's Earth Day. I remember first realizing Earth Day. I think I must've been in about Sixth grade. Something like that. I grew up in semi-rural Midwest, so some of my more urbane friends remember their first Earth Days a little differently than I remember mine.

I never thought of the Earth as having limited capacity, limited resources, etc. I just didn't. It was beyond my comprehension until about age 12. Why did I understand it after that? I'm not sure.

I remember the teachers talking about the Earth, the need for recycling, hell, we even watched a movie (the old school reel to reel movie projectors that had so much noise eminating from them, the sound had to be cranked up to 100dB to burp out more noise than the actual film). Anyway, basically, it was McDonald's propaganda. McEcology is what it was called. I don't know a single person who remembers this, so, it may in fact have been completely fabricated by yours truly.

Anyway, they went through the entire process of manufacturing the products used by the folks with the golden arches and talked about how great they were at recycling, at using recycled products, and just environmentally-conscious in general. Wow. I remember thinking what a great company. Well, my first thought was probably let's go get some chicken nuggets. But the point is, they made me feel good about eating food from them because they were environmentally sound. At least, in my opinion.

So, the point, I don't know. I guess, it's just the point that propaganda can make us believe all sorts of things. well, when you're in sixth grade, it doesn't take much to make you believe anything. But, as we all found out later, McDonald's wasn't the environmentally concsious entity they purported themselves to be. But they're getting better, 750 calorie Quarter Pounders and all.