IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
What to Know: Sunday was Earth Day, first observed in 1970.
“The annual event is a gathering of organizations and ordinary people striving to preserve the environment, promote social causes, use sustainable forms of energy, enhance personal spirituality and generally work toward like-minded ideals,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. “’The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it,’ read a sign attached to one booth. ‘Mother Earth speaks through every flower,’ read a sign on another. Waamene Wifa was giving out free hugs Saturday, part of an effort by Gitana Productions. ‘We use music, dance and drama to bring people together. We’re all part of the same planet,’ said the organization’s executive director, Cecilia Nadal.”
The TPPF Take: Earth Day is a fine time to note how fossil fuels make life healthier, longer and more enriched for the Earth’s human inhabitants.
“On Earth Day, we hear that fossil fuels are wrecking the environment and our health,” says TPPF’s Bernard McNamee. “But the fact is that life expectancy, population andeconomic growth all began to increase dramatically when fossil fuels were harnessed. On the first Earth Day, many ‘experts’ prophesized doom and destruction for the human race. But in the nearly half-century since then, the human condition has improved overall – markedly.”