Earth Day. Same Message, Different Decade.

On the first official Earth Day, in Weedsport, New York, there were no 7-11's. 

People used to stop at the Big M Grocery in town to "run in for a few things".  Kids, grandmas, husbands, often stayed in the car with motors running and heaters on.  Of course, cars without kids or grandmas were often left running too. 

Just for a minute.  Or ten. 

Hey, it was snowing.  It was cold. Who wanted to breathe the outside air anyway?  

Always the obnoxiously well informed teen, I remember turning off my mom's car and getting out, slamming the big Chevy BelAir door behind me. 

I remember shuffling through gray slush, knocking on car windows, saying to anyone curious enough to roll a window down in the sleet, "You know if you turn off the engine for more than two minutes, it will save more fuel than starting the car back up."  (Something I had heard on one of our two TV channels, no doubt.) 

And no doubt the snorts and derisive laughter then would be echoed at exactly the same decibel level today.  

Older now?  For sure.  Wiser?  Debatable. 

OK, so I don't actually knock on car windows in a snow storm and try to interfere with creature comforts directly.

But the message hasn't changed a bit. 

What can I say?  Just plain stubborn, I guess.