happy bEarthDay

This Earth Day is the 45th, which means the first was (wayyy) back in 1970. Now, most look on it as not much more than another opportunity for companies and politicians to boast about the good they're doing and for stores to hold special sales. But back then, in the innocence and altruism that still lingered in the air, it was a really big deal even though it took a few years for the whole country to become aware of it (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2012/04/earth-day-1970.html).
   The man we mostly have to thank for Earth Day, Sen. Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005), was a Democrat from Wisconsin. It was about 10 years earlier that he started thinking about how best to focus the spotlight on the environment and the harm being done to it. He tried various means, including talking President Kennedy into a "national conservation tour," but it wasn't until he began using people power that the day took off and politicians started listening (or pretending to). "I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda," he wrote. "It was a big gamble, but worth a try": http://earthday.envirolink.org/history.html

WPRI.com

   Lending some celestial glitter to the occasion is the Lyrid meteor shower, which this year peaks on April 22. What we're seeing up there are flakes of dust from Comet Thatcher's tail, which the Earth passes through at about this time every year: http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/lyrids/lyrids.html
   Plus, what better time to learn a little something about the gloriousness that sparkles under our feet? Chert! (thanks to KD): http://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/education/chert-faq.htm