Are You Sick Of Earth Day?

Posted by Joshua on April 22, 2008 at 5:03pm in Green / Environment

For many of you out there Earth day has always been around. It's one of those holidays where news reporters talk about fuel efficient vehicles and gadgets that are green. It's where yahoo and google change their front pages to a green design and where amazon offers %50 off their kindle e-books. But lets face it, isn't this is all corporate propoganda? A way for big companies to belly up next to joe public at the wheat grass bar and say... "Hey buy from us we are green too! It will make you feel all warm and green inside trust us". Just check out the Hype here!

Now don't get me wrong, good or bad I'm excited that finally there are more options for those looking to be sustainably responsible. But after all the hype where are these companies for the next 364 days of the year? Tomorrow morning one will be hard pressed to find a story on how to be eco-responsible on any of the major media stations. In fact I challenge you to find something besides the voting results of the Pennsylvania primary! So, my question is has corporate America turned Earth day for lack of a better analogy into "The Gap" where they can make a quick buck and move on?

The Eco Movement has been around for a long ..time since the 1950's actually, but Perhaps the famous crying indian ad was the real start of it. This "Crying Indian" public service advertisement (PSA) launched on Earth Day in 1971. It featured Iron Eyes Cody. and has been widely credited with inspiring America's fledgling environmental movement.

If this PSA ran today how would it be different? Would it be sponsored by Starbucks or possibly feature Hannah Montana? ooops wow it already does!

Tags: cody, day, earth, eco, eyes, gap, global, iron, movement, the

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pimp Daddy on April 23, 2008 at 7:42am: Earth Day isn't really noticeable over here in Britain, but I would say that anything which goes towards highlighting environmental issues is a good thing. Even though Google's token gesture of changing the colour of their homepage didn't actually change anything (at least directly), it did give them an opportunity to explain why the environment needs to be improved.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mil 3000 on April 23, 2008 at 9:22am: I remember when i was in 1st and 2nd grade I was real big on recycling and everything but it quickly faded. Im all for protecting the environment but if the public is ever gonna get serious, we need to make Earth day more than a spectacle and try to get some crap done the rest of the year. Screw Earth Day. I think its jus the hardcore tree huggers lookin for attention. Everyday we live on this earth should be earth day.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joshua on April 23, 2008 at 2:04pm: yeah I agree it shouldn't be just one day! Just look, this post has been up on mix for 24 hours and only 2 replies. I would have thought that more would have had a say..but I guess Earth Day is not really having any effect after all.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by turna on June 3, 2008 at 12:30am: Earth Day, Earth Hour............

It needs to be a movement way more than temporary.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by I'll-turn-native on July 21, 2008 at 4:18pm: My great-grandfather was John Muir so I guess you could say that the environmentalist movement is in my blood and has been going on for a LOT longer than 1971.

I think that the problem is that many people are sick of comming up with altruistic motivations for saving the planet when so many others are decimating it. The fact of the matter is that environmentalism is not shown a more prominent spotlight in the media simply means that people are tired of being told that the lifestyle they enjoy so much is evil, so they are not motivated to change.

What I personally believe that global warming will be the single biggest challenge and threat facing our generation. If fighting global warming were as sexy as fight terrorists than you would have a lot more people motivated to do it.; ▶ Reply to This