Dan Wood: The Eponymous Weblog

I just learned that today is officially Earth Day. So Happy Earth Day to You .... if it's possible to be happy with what is going on these days.

I've considered myself an environmentalist ever since some classes I took at college. For a long time now I've put that into personal action: biking or walking instead of driving when possible, bringing canvas bags to the grocery store, using a Mac instead of a PC, and so forth.

Now I have 2.0 kids, and I think about what kind of Earth we are leaving behind for the next generation. And it's not looking pretty, literally. It seems that all of the strides that have been made in environmental protection in the last hundred years — since Theodore Roosevelt (a Republican, BTW) started placing lands under federal protection — are being dismantled by our current Presidential administration. One by one, laws that protect our environment are now being dismantled, while the public is fed Orwellian terms like Clear Skies Initiative that actually allow increases in pollution.

So ... do something today to celebrate Earth Day. Read this Salon interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (about to be interviewed on Air America), and pass it along to others: <http://tinyurl.com/34wsd> Start up some new habits that will leave the Earth in better condition than it was when you got here. But most importantly, do whatever you can to make sure that George W. Bush is not re-selected President. I'm not a big fan of his presumptive opponent Kerry, but anybody would be better than what the Bush administration is doing now.