Tomorrow is the 42nd annual Earth Day, which was founded in 1970. I was a freshman at Madera High School for the first one. I remember picking up litter on the campus during lunch hour. One of the janitors saw me and asked why. I said it was Earth Day and he gave me a candy bar for making his job easier.
Founded by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, the day reflected his hope to channel the passion of the 1960s anti-war movement into an effort to reduce pollution to the environment according to www.earthday.org.
More than four decades later, recycling has become a multibillion-dollar industry.
If I had to guess I would say that locally our farmers are the biggest source of people working to preserve the environment for future generations. They, above all others, have a deep respect for the land and the bounty it provides...