Earth Day is about people

My small town localized a global event, and the earth is better off for it

In 2021 the Earth Day block party was (not) hampered by snow (Courtney Long photo)

Last year, I celebrated Earth Day on the following Saturday, by gathering with other volunteers to clean up our city parks. We walked around with huge bags to pick up trash. As I recall, it was a bit chilly and wet. The park I was assigned to had suffered in the previous summer’s flood—areas were covered in gravel and boulders, such that removing trash didn’t seem to help things much. Indeed there wasn’t much trash, my bag didn’t get very full, and I dared not think too much about whether we were having any global impact.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the morning. I saw friends. I felt useful. I felt collaborative. There was a block party afterwards, so I even got free food and drinks out of the deal. The whole thing was within walking distance of my home, and I felt virtuously connected to the earth. But to me the bigger benefit was feeling connected to my community.

I was too young to experience the original Earth Day, the 1970 one conceived as a nationwide “teach-in” and sometimes called the largest single-day protest in human history. And for the next 40 or 50 years I paid almost no attention.

I’ve got nothing against the Earth. I just wasn’t on board with the Day, a manufactured holiday. It was too close to greenwashing. (This high-ranking link about the corporatization of Earth Day is from Outside Magazine, which I have always sadly seen as corporatizing nature. I guess the irony proves the point.) Too close to power politics, with politicians and unions and corporations and other institutions uniting to manipulate people who might otherwise be natural and free. Too self-consciously global, when all nature is local. Too focused on a single trendy day when transforming relationships to the earth requires year-round change. I grew up in the church, where my parents derided the “Christmas-and-Easter Christians” who showed up twice a year, refusing the daily toil and weekly community that they felt represented true faith. I was never sure that the earth would be served by Earth Day Environmentalists.

But a few years ago, two things changed. First, a few committed young women organized the local event. One was employed by the city government, others by the community foundation—in other words, they were working within established local institutions. Their block party included educational initiatives, but the parks cleanup was essential to the day. It wasn’t just a chance for the Parks Board to get some trash picked up on a limited budget. It was an opportunity for locals to act on their desires to feel more connected to the pockets of nature within the city limits.

The second change was that I joined the board of a local trails organization. I had to show up because we had a booth at the block party. We gave away free bikes to kids. So I could come to see Earth Day as a celebration of springtime, like a secular Easter. I also came to see it as a collaboration of institutions, as I have realized that participating in institutions is the best way to get anything done.

Living in a small town for the last 34 years, I have come to see all great rituals as community rituals. My favorite example: On Halloween it’s not just “Wow what a creative costume,” but also “I must know the person under that costume, I wonder who it could be.” For the Fourth of July, for Christmas, for Oktoberfest, for a celebration of a little-known Norse snow god, we create our own rituals and traditions. What makes them special isn’t the global scale or the corporate slogans, but the excuse to gather with friends. When they are special, they are popular. When they are popular, they cause change.

This year, the city parks cleanup and block party aren’t happening on Earth Day. Maybe it’ll move to a less snowy time (World Croc Day anyone? It was surely intended for crocodiles, but maybe we could clean up parks while wearing funky sandals.) Or maybe, since those vibrant young women moved on to other jobs, the tradition will fade.

I’m not mourning—change can be good. Instead I’m grateful: The work of this community overcame my lifelong doubts. They made Earth Day into a holiday about people, local people, parks people, my people. Earth Day became a natural story that I couldn’t help but want to participate in.

Discussion:

• Instead, this Saturday I’m hosting a big party. It’s close to my birthday and I wanted a community ritual. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by! (email me for info)