Happy Earth Day
From Santa Barbara..."ground zero" of Earth Day celebrations. (and rated #10 Best Green City in America by Country Home.)
Santa Barbara NewsPress Editor Thomas Storke:
Ecological disaster brought reality check. Crude oil blasted nine stories into the air on Jan. 28, 1969, from a pipeline that blew out in the Santa Barbara channel. For the environmental movement, this disaster was the spark that launched Earth Day...The story goes that Earth Day was conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson after a trip he took to Santa Barbara right after that horrific oil spill off our coast in 1969. He was so outraged by what he saw that he went back to Washington and passed a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the earth. - CEC
When the Santa Barbara pipeline burst 39 years ago, crude oil flowed for 10 days, eventually covering an 800-mile square area with a dark sheen. The oil even silenced the tide. With the viscous oil melded to it, the waves no longer lapped at the shore. Instead, they landed with a heavy thud . Bridgeport Connecticut Post
Santa Barbara NewsPress Editor Thomas Storke:
Never in my lifetime have I ever seen such an aroused populace at the grassroots level. This oil pollution has done something that I have never seen – it has united citizens of all political persuasions in a truly nonpartisan cause.”U.S. President Richard Nixon:
It is sad that it was necessary that Santa Barbara should be the example that had to bring it to the attention of the American people. What is involved is the use of our resources of the sea and the land in a more effective way and with more concern for preserving the beauty and natural resources that are so important to any kind of society that we want for the future. The Santa Barbara incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people.Go out and hug a tree, ride a bike, take a deep breath, walk through a forest, listen to the birds. Show Mother Earth how much she is appreciated.
Labels: earth day, Ecology, Environment, Environmental, Oil Spill, Santa Barbara
