Earth Day

April 22, 2024

I have been waiting to plant the rest of my garden as there were still some cold nights forecast after the April 15 “final frost”.  While none of these nights have produced frost here in the Valley, temperatures have gotten down to the mid 30’sF (1 to 2C).  I did not want to risk the fragile seed starters growing on the greenhouse porch and the packets of the squash, beans, peas, and leafy vegetables all suggested planting them after the ground temperatures reached 65 to 70F (18 to 21C).  I had also purchased several plants that were not included in the 100 pack of survival vegetables Melissa had given me.  While the packets did include a variety of heirloom peppers and tomatoes, there were no cherry varieties (Solanum lycopersicumor) or jalapenos (Capsicum annuum).  I also added cilantro (Coriandrum sativumto) to make sure I was ready for Pico and guacamole season.  I thought it appropriate that the ground and air temps were finally cooperating on Earth Day.

When I looked online, I found Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.  I mentioned in a blog several years ago that the first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970.  It now embraces a range of global events coordinated by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network) that includes 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.  The event was first conceived as an environmental “teach-in”, in homage to the debates being held on college campuses to discuss the war in Vietnam.  When Madison Avenue advertising giant Julien Koenig stopped by the national offices to volunteer to help, Executive Director Denis Hayes confided to him that the “teach-in” moniker was not working and asked whether Koenig had any ideas.  The result was Earth Day, and the date was changed from the first day of Spring (March 21) to April 22 (Koenig’s birthday).  Earth Day 2020 marked the event’s 50th anniversary with over 100 million people around the world in what is referred to as the largest online mass mobilization in history.  The official theme for 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics”.

While it was not planted in honor of Earth Day, I planted an avocado (Persea americana) tree yesterday to replace the one which died.  This is part of my dwarf 3-tree orchard.  The lime (Citrus aurantiifolia) tree is doing well and sprouting new growth.  The lemon (Citrus limon) tree has flowered and what appear to be tiny lemons are beginning to form.  The avocado formed one tiny avocado and then immediately lost all of its leaves and the branches began to die.  I sent a picture of the tree to the website, and they shipped me a new tree almost immediately.  I removed the dead tree and placed the new one in the container.  While it is wilting from the transplanting process I am hoping for the best.  Most events around Earth Day focus on planting trees and removing plastic waste from local ecosystems, but it seems like planting sustainable vegetables to lower my own carbon footprint coincides with that effort.  Now I need to get on with planting my garden.    

THOUGHTS:  My sister and brother-in-law took a trip to New Zealand last year and sent back some amazing photos of culture and scenery.  She also sent back a museum display that showed all of the plastics that had been found in the stomach of a dead albatross.  It had starved to death.  This is a fitting “poster child” for the 2024 theme of Earth Day, “Planet vs. Plastics”.  While micro-plastics are ingested by many fish and their predators, birds can be particularly vulnerable as the brightly colored larger pieces appear to be edible.  They do not digest or pass through.  Earth Day is not restricted to April 22nd.  Care for our environment needs to happen every day of the year.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.