Sunday is EARTH DAY! Hoot! Hoot! #llblog #EarthDay

At the risk of seriously dating myself, I vividly remember how visiting San Diego's beautiful beaches meant you had to keep out a keen eye for broken glass and smoldering cigarette butts. Swimming in the ocean, I was as likely to get caught in trash as kelp. It was a time when "cleaning up the car" meant chucking your fast food wrappers and containers out of the window as you sped down the highway, not even pausing to notice that crying "Indian".

But then, in my lifetime, there was a huge shift in the public consciousness. We stopped littering, complained about pollution, changed legislation and started recycling. Why?

Of course, I was just a kid at the time, but it seems to me that environmentalists made the very savvy decision to market eco-awareness to the children of the 70s (like me). I like to think that the "Crying Indian" had a lot to do with it. But when I think of the rise of environmentalism in the 1970s, I also remember that I just couldn't get that Woodsy The Owl song out of my head! I honestly remember hearing that song while I picked up trash on my school playground!

Thanks to Woodsy, my fellow children and I harrassed our parents into caring about the environment. I remember telling my dad his stereo was causing "noise pollution"!

Today my kids consider "reduce, reuse, recycle"  a part of their daily lives. San Diego's beaches are cleaner than they ever were in my childhood and anyone throwing their In-and-Out wrapper out of the car window will probably be reported and have to pay a hefty fine.

Isn't it amazing the changes we've been able to make in such a short time? Just think of the improvements we can make before our kids are grown!

So this Sunday, let's all come up with more ways to  Help Keep Americaaaaaaa....Looking Good! Hoot! Hoot!

Wishing you a HAPPY EARTH DAY with extra cheese-
Nacho Mama