Earth Day Flashback: Remember When We Gave A Hoot? [Video]
Earth Day is coming up Friday, April 22 and it got me thinking about when I was a kid and all that I was taught about taking care of our earth.
Remember the crying Native American in the “Keep America Beautiful” television public service announcement (see below) in the 1970s, observing all the pollution of modern society, created by non-caring people? Remember Woodsy Owl with his environmental message of “Give a hoot, don’t pollute”? Whatever happened to these all-important messages targeted at kids? We all know that good habits start at an early age and I haven’t seen any type of messages like these since I was a kid in the 1970s and ’80s. I find this very unsettling considering all the serious environmental threats to our beautiful planet.
I will admit, much has changed since those days with getting messages like this out. Everybody watched television in real-time and couldn't "forward" through commercials as we can now. People, especially kids paid attention to commercials so it was easy to remember them. Needless to say in today's world, getting the message out about being a steward to our planet and not littering is much more complicated.
Also, when I was a kid, I remember that on Earth Day, our entire school would go outside (weather permitting) and work together to clean up school property of any trash left on the ground. I’m not aware of schools doing this anymore. I do know that some teachers incorporate Earth Day in the classroom but it is certainly not mandated. My one question is, shouldn’t it be? And by all means, bring back ads that should be government-sponsored (social media, tv, radio) to target young people to influence habits that can make a difference in earth’s future!
In our modern age of global environmental health, these messages have never been more important. Personally, I think that environmental studies should be part of every school's curriculum. Teaching children about why it's important to take care of our precious earth is needed now to save it for future generations.