Happy Earth Day

Every April 22, we celebrate Earth Day. Given the mission of TRC, it should be no surprise that we support this celebratory event every year. After all, you could make the case that we participate in Earth Day every day.

A little history is in order. Earth Day started in April 1970 with the idea of protecting the environment. Senator Gaylord Nelson founded the day because he recognized that we had no legislation protecting the environment. That’s right. There was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, and no Clean Water Act.

Nelson realized that his idea needed a grassroots effort to galvanize Americans to draw attention to the damage we were doing to our environment and ourselves. The result was creating Earth Day to draw supporters who favored a cleaner environment. Twenty million people across the country demonstrated on Earth Day and by December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A modest beginning, created by a politician with a noble idea, resulted in significant and needed changes to protecting our environment and its citizens.

I had lunch with a friend recently, and we chatted about TRC’s mission. He said that while we are only a part of the larger environmental picture, what we did was meaningful. We don’t get awards (though our top wholesalers do) for the daily effort, yes, the grind, that contributes to the mission. However, I’d like to think that in our focused, mercury-containing thermostat everyday, we’ve done well.

I don’t want to get preachy, but it might make sense that on Earth Day this year, we ask ourselves if we are doing what we can. When we all pitch in — literally — it makes a difference, whether we recycle plastic bags, properly dispose of batteries and everything else.

If you have an itch to do a little more, you can always check out earthday.org.