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Earth Day was last Tuesday. I actually almost forgot about it. Funny, coming from someone who studied environmental science in college. In many ways, a single day to celebrate the Earth feels so inconsequential it’s not worth it.

But, when I take off my cynical glasses, I see care emanating from nooks and crannies. Green Up Day is the first Saturday of May in the state of Vermont. Growing up, we’d take green trash bags and race to see who could pick up the most roadside cans, clean the most broken glass from the river bank and local fishing spot across the road. In what many would perceive as a redneck, rural part of the state, those green bags would line the street, neighbors and strangers alike would beat you to the dirtiest patches of roadway, and garbage trucks would rumble down the road in the afternoon to clean it all up. A community effort; a friendly competition to give back. Even as an eight year old, that single day of service was profoundly impactful for me.

My most recent Earth Day was last weekend. After racing up a snowy, skintrack highway through crowds of like-minded skiers we changed course and followed the April sun towards a new basin. With a thousand feet of corn below us, we sat and we sat for 20 minutes, sharing snacks and water and the vastness of the world. Sharing silence. In the distance the striped bands of Mount Timpanogos stared back at us, unwavering. From my perspective, we were the only people in miles. From the mountain’s perspective, we likely weren’t even there.

Climate change won’t kill the mountains or the Earth. They’re much too resilient. It just may kill us. And it will certainly change both us and the places we love. So find your Earth Days. It just could be today.

—Liam McGee

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