PERSPECTIVEnShort Views on Earth DaynEarth Day 1990. In front of the local library a few dozennpeople dressed up like Hollywood extras in a movienabout the 60’s are “carrying signs that say hurray for ournside,” while all over town there are alleys full of garbage,ncreeks choked with old mufflers and rusted appliances. InnNew York, Chicago, and most large cities, hundreds ofnthousands of urbanites gather to celebrate their oneness withnnature by listening to electrically produced music blastednthrough massive electronic sound systems. The results willnbe marketed by international record companies that battennon the ignorance and gullibility of children.nMost of the protests against Earth Day came fromncelebrity journalists who resented the intrusion of celebritynactors and celebrity singers into their domain. In the midst ofnall this rejoicing, I felt like a Jehovah’s Witness on the firstnChristmas after his conversion: sympathetic to the cause butnconvinced that the celebration and the rhetoric are worsenthan misguided.nEarth Day is one of the many secular holidays in thenrevolutionary calendar that has replaced the Christian year.nNot so long ago Easter and Christmas, Halloween and AllnSaints’ Day joined with such patriotic celebrations as thenbirthdays of Washington and Lincoln (and, in some states,nof Lee and Davis), Independence Day and Memorial Day.nToday old-fashioned Americans may still celebrate thosenancient holidays if they wish, but most of the nationalnenergy is devoted to political awareness: Martin LuthernKing’s birthday. Women’s History Month, holocaust remembrances.nLabor Day; and the New Puritan holidays —n12/CHRONICLESnby Thomas Flemingnnnthe National Smoke-Out and the like; and the meaninglessndays decreed by Congress to boost the sales of greetingncards: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents’ Day.nThere is nothing holy about Earth Day and these othernsecular holidays; they are without roots or significance.nWhat is more, most of them are global and abstract,ncelebrating mothers and working men and minority vichmsnall over the globe, and while we are demonstrating againstnacid rain in Canada and the hole in the ozone layer overnAntarctica, we are doing nothing to improve the quality ofnour own life or that of our neighbors.nThe one notable exception to the pattern of globalncommitment/local irresponsibility were the many tree-plantingnprojects undertaken all over the United States, butntree-planting was the one Earth Day activity to be generallyncriticized as a “cop-out.” Johnny Appleseed has gone thenway of all our other national heroes. A few thousand fruitntrees, more or less, what difference can they make to a worldnthat is poisoning itself to death? Besides, by planting aliennspecies of apple trees, Johnny was probably disturbing thenfragile ecosystem of the American continent. And it is notnenough to be concerned with North America. The newninterdependence of human societies requires a global response,nI do not know offliand where and when environmentalnglobalism started, but 1970 was a banner year. It was notnonly the year in which the first Earth Day was celebrated,nbut in 1970 the first important argument in favor of globalnregulation was made by George Kennan in the April issue ofn