Apr 22, 2009
by Pete Wann

Well, celebrate virtually, that is. As you have probably heard, today is Earth Day. What are you doing to celebrate, if anything?
I’m riding my bike to work every day this week — hopefully I’ll create a habit that will continue beyond just Wednesday the 22nd.
Tags: bike riding, earth day 09, environmentalism
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7 Comments, Comments or Pings
David Kozlowski
I’ll be burning that pesky pile of old truck tires in my back yard.
Apr 22nd, 2009
chinese boomerang
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1
Compare this with the man who was one of the founders of Earth Day and the Master Of Ceremonies at the inaugural event, Ira Einhorn -
“Mr. Einhorn has another line on his resume. In addition to being a environmental guru, he is the Unicorn Killer.
While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Einhorn dated a Bryn Mawr College graduate by the name of Holly Maddux. When the affair ended in 1977, Mr. Einhorn went into a jealous rage and murdered her.
He concealed his crime for 18 months by stuffing Ms. Maddux’s body in a trunk that he kept in his apartment. The foul odor of the decomposing corpse coming from Mr. Einhorn’s Powelton Village apartment caused neighbors to complain. In 1979, police found the trunk stored in a closet in Mr. Einhorn’s apartment.
Ira Einhorn, member of the counterculture pantheon, one of the founders of the environmentalist movement, icon of the liberal intelligentsia, was charged with murder. But it was not just a simple murder, it was a gruesome case of domestic violence.”
and -
“there is a little mentioned irony about the Einhorn saga.
Ira Einhorn was arrested for murder March 28, 1979, the day the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident occurred. Ira Einhorn, environmentalist, was charged with murder during the same period as one of the greatest environmental accidents in United States history.
But the real irony is that more people died in the apartment of Ira Einhorn, co-founder of Earth Day than at Three Mile Island. The environmentalist killed more people than the so-called environmental disaster.”
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/04/22/top_stories/doc49eebca59bdb3868756314.txt
Happy Earth Day.
Apr 22nd, 2009
Pete Wann
1. CB, I’ll bet you’re just a BLAST at parties.
2. Why can’t you seem to keep your comments on topic? I didn’t praise Ira Einhorn or hold him up as an example of someone we should emulate; I didn’t mention him AT ALL. What does his having committed a heinous crime have to do with Earth Day? Oh, that’s right — it gives you another straw man to prop up and attack instead of contributing ANYTHING USEFUL to the current conversation. Additionally, so what if someone peripherally involved in the first observance of an event did something horrific? Does that make the event that the person was peripherally involved in any less valid?
3. Your comparison of god to Ira Einhorn doesn’t even make sense. No one is claiming that Einhorn created the heavens and the earth.
4. The other founders of Earth Day dispute characterizing Einhorn as a “founder.”
5. Lastly, the assertion that Einhorn killed more people than the Three Mile Island disaster isn’t ironic, it’s a coincidence, and it’s false. Just because no one died immediately during the situation doesn’t mean that no one died due to the meltdown, just like the total death toll from Chernobyl, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki (and the Vietnam and Iraq wars) are higher than just the numbers killed immediately during the incident.
Anyone else have something useful to contribute? I’ll even accept sarcastic humor, but you lose “first post” points on that to David, above.
Apr 22nd, 2009
Philip Hennen
Mine is this:
I guess we shouldn’t appreciate all that wonderful “wall of sound” 60’s Motown-style music that Phil Spector played such a huge role in producting, since after all, he’s a convicted murderer.
In fact, I guess we should just burn all those records, tapes and discs. Be sure to erase them off your MP3 players
Isn’t it ironic how some people’s contributions to this Earth are to find the worst and imply that defines all?
Nothing to do with Earth Day, sorry.
Except, yeah, rah EARTH! Go Earth!
Apr 22nd, 2009
Marcy Galle
I take every oppt’y I get to be outside with my children! We don’t have a really big yard, but it works…the kids are still little (giggle). Anyhow, to Pete Wann, thanks for the beautiful photos of Ft. Worth! I love this city – I just picked up trash for the first time in my neighborhood for Cowtown Cleanup and it felt great!! It’s a little sad to see how people can trash the place, but I will do my part to help clean it up. I’ll teach my kids to do the same.
Rah Earth (that’s funny) – Our Earth is a wondrous and beautiful place! Let’s work to keep it that way people – get out and enjoy our lovely Fort Worth!
Apr 22nd, 2009
Pete Wann
Thanks for your efforts, Marcy.
I’m not an environmentalist because I like owls or polar bears more than people (most people, at least), I’m an environmentalist because what affects owls and polar bears will eventually start affecting humans. Although I don’t have kids of my own, I’d sure like for yours to have a clean, healthy planet to live on.
Apr 22nd, 2009
John MacFarlane
My wife and I recycle household materials, rarely water our yard, plant vegetation endemic to Texas that tolerates drought in my flower beds, use energy-saving compact fluorescents (CFs) (although I learned later they contain mercury, which, when placed in a landfill, can leach into the groundwater, we can’t win!), use re-usable diapers on my baby, replaced my old top loading washing machine with a front loading machine which uses much less water, replaced my Jeep Grand Cherokee with a Toyota with higher MPG, rebuilt a ‘79 Vespa to drive around my ‘hood to save gas, use cloth bags when going shopping, refuse plastic bags (when I forget the cloth bags) when I can carry everything in my hands.
I know I can do better, so, in the near to not to distant future, I hope to install solar panels on my house (when the become a little more affordable), install a clothesline in the backyard to dry clothes, buy a hybrid (when they become a little more affordable), walk more, teach my kid about conservation, ecology, and being green.
Apr 22nd, 2009
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