by Juan Wilson 23 April 2008

Yesterday was Earth Day! There was a time when Earth Day would have meant getting a lot of calls and emails to get ready for the big day. Being the editor of a web/blog I get a lot of announcements about such events: more than I can handle. this year nothing.

In the past people would be networking, planning and preparing to make it a big day. Not this year. I got a couple of notices about an event on Maui. Otherwise - nada.

That's not to say nobody did anything. There were certainly programs for youngsters in school. In fact, teachers are leaders in carrying on the tradition of Earth Day. But where are the Greens, Greenpeace, the radicals that got us in a mood for this gala event in the first place?

Have the radicals abandoned Earth Day as too cute, co-opted and useless?

I suspect we are past the soccer-mom-driven Earth Day celebration and are heading into a more visceral let's-just-survive-until-next Earth Day observation.

The two groups of people I spent the day with yesterday were working on trying to get the aina of our islands back in the hands of the people who know how to heal the land and grow food and maintain the reefs. They never mentioned Earth Day... they were too busy.