We took to the streets. Hundreds of us. It was quite a sight.

Of course that’s when people actually took to the streets. Now there are virtual marches and text messages and facebook pages…But somehow it’s really just not the same.

 

That day 40 years ago seemed kinda foggy until the whole phenomenon was put into perspective by a wonderful American Experience doco on PBS the other night. It was interesting to see that there were some rather unlikely “heroes” in the fledgling days of the eco-movement. Richard Nixon. The United Autoworkers. Whodathawt…

You can watch it at the PBS site. Oh, and it’s cut up into convenient shorter segments for those who don’t or can’t sit thru vids that are more than a few minutes long. Maybe someone will fire off an email about what he or she saw. 

Earth Day has become “perfect to post” on a social network to raise virtual awareness, perhaps spawn a virtual demonstration yielding virtual petitions… 

Oh, there is no doubt as to the value of the internet and social networking as a tool to get folks interested, informed and “on-board.” But somehow, to me, it just doesn’t seem to be enough. Does it really affect the big changes we want?

Has it turned us from activists to folks who can feel better about ourselves by stroking a few keys and just “signing on?” 

Isn’t the core of being an activist somehow actually being physically active? You know, cause action by taking action? As one who participated in mass demonstrations against the Vietnam war, I think the fact that thousands of people actually physically showed up in the streets is what made the key difference in how America’s involvement in that war ended.

Walking the walk has been replaced by talking the talk and now e-protests. I don't think it’s as effective. 

Last year I asked folks to take a pledge to turn their air conditioning up 2 degrees and to check the inflation in their tires as a method of increasing energy efficiency and thereby decreasing their carbon foot prints. About forty people signed on.  Did they do it? Don't really know. No one answered when I asked.

Perhaps I was optimistic that more folks would think these two small actions are worth doing…perhaps my “social network” isn’t as extensive as I had hoped.  I guess I don't have the right hashtags for twitter or the right search engine optimizing meta tags and keywords...maybe if I had an "app" at the i-store...maybe if I had used "flash."

Perhaps my small bid to save the Planet has just gotten lost in the e-shuffle of  over financial reform, presidential birth certificates, and/or Glee.