EDITORIAL:Earth Day, Laguna style

Laguna Beach does things a little differently, and the celebration of Earth Day is one example.

Earth Day in Laguna is officially March 20, the spring equinox. Most everywhere else, Earth Day is April 22 and is a day for picking up trash, recycling, and other beautification and environmental efforts.

So why the spring equinox and not April 22?

That’s because a local artist — who else in Laguna? — asked the City Council last year for a proclamation making that day the city’s official Earth Day.

Charles Michael Murray, a graphic designer and art gallery owner in Laguna, wanted to reinforce an environmental message in the city.

Murray is a big fan of John McConnell, 92 this year, who came up with the original idea of Earth Day, back in 1969.

It’s quite a story.

McConnell, a crusading small-town newspaperman and visionary captured the public’s attention following the launch of the “space race” in 1959 with the Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite.

Following the Sputnik launch, McConnell’s editorial calling for peaceful exploration of space appeared in hundreds of newspapers, and he appeared on “The Today Show” and other television shows promoting the cause of global peace in the new space age.

By the early 1960s, McConnell — whose father was an Evangelical minister — was promoting a “Minute for Peace” and another cause, “Meals for Millions,” based on his concern that the Earth’s resources were being hoarded by the few and causing worldwide economic disparity and the likelihood of future wars.

He also is credited with inventing the “Earth Flag,” which appeared for many years on the Whole Earth Catalog and is a symbol of his underlying theme of World Equality and the idea that every person has Earth Rights — the right to a share in earth’s resources.

In September 1969, McConnell convinced the city of San Francisco supervisors to approve the first-ever Earth Day proclamation.

The proclamation stated that the signers would “support and observe Earth Day on March 21 (the Vernal Equinox — when night and day are equal throughout the Earth) with reflection and actions that encourage a new respect for Earth with its great potentials for fulfilling Man’s highest dreams; and on this day will join at 1900 Universal Time in a global Earth Hour — a silent hour for peace.”

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, and in 1971 the United Nations adopted an Earth Day proclamation.

Another Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970 — this being a “teach-in” to protest air and water pollution, and demand for government action to clean up the environment.

The “official” government-sponsored Earth Day has since become April 22, and while it has an environmental hue, the first Earth Day was about much more than picking up trash.

McConnell’s themes of peace and equality are, if anything, more prescient and heightened today.

So, here in Laguna, we celebrate the beginning of spring and Earth Day on Tuesday, and perhaps start a new tradition — Earth Month.