Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that today is Earth Day. It was Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin who got Congress to declare April 20th as Earth Day back in 1970. Since then, the environmental movement has grown to include the entire world, and environmental legislation has been enacted to make our planet a cleaner place.

One of the great things about Earth Day is that it can be considered "grass-roots" (no pun intended), rather than government mandated. So every year, people have tried more and more to do what they can to conserve energy, minimize waste, reuse and recycle, and buy products that are organic or "green". As you might expect, this time of year we are inundated with articles helping us do just that.

U.S. News and World Report provides this obvious 5 list:

1. Water fixtures. Swap out your old water fixtures for low-flow devices.


2. Light bulbs. Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving compact flourescents [sic].


3. Window shades. Get energy-efficient insulated window shades.


4. Programmable thermostat. Install an efficient programmable thermostat.


5. Electricity. Call your electric provider and buy green power.

(more detail at the link)

Of course, these are just tips for your home. In addition, you can also compost yard waste (and some kitchen waste as well), plant trees and xeriscaping plants, recycle or reuse as much as possible, buy in bulk rather than "convenient" single-serving, buy food from local growers, use the "let it mellow" approach to flushing the toilet, etc.

On the transportation side, it's just too obvious: use mass transit when possible, and otherwise use the least polluting transportation method you can (electric/hybrid car, motorcycle, scooter, bicycle, walk). You have to wonder about the American mind when you see people driving SUVs to the gym.

CAFE standards have helped with cars though, which leads to the other side of the coin with Earth Day - it's helped put the Government on notice that the environment is important to us and we expect them to mandate and create legislation that does that. That can come from Congress or from the EPA. Interestingly, it was President Richard Nixon who created the EPA (and Republicans have been hating him for it ever since, LOL) in 1970, the same year that Earth Day was created. Coincidence?

Considering how bad pollution was and how much better it is now, especially taking into account the increase in the planet's population, it's been a pretty good 39 years. When Earth Day hits the big 4-0 next year, the retrospectives and articles will be crazy ("buy this magazine to learn how to save paper!"). Will we have taken some bold steps between now and then? Perhaps higher fuel efficiency standards?

If there's any silver lining to the economic meltdown, it's that the "make work" jobs being created to boost the economy back on track can be the "green jobs" that we keep hearing about. Senator Debbie Stabenow says just that.

Here's hoping that next year we can look back on the past year proudly and know that we (collectively) made a difference.

Go hug a tree and thank it for making your oxygen.