RobKirkpatrick.com

Ecology Flag designed by underground artist Ron Cobb in 1969

Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and as the following link reminds us, the day was inspired in part by the infamous Cuyahoga River fire on June 23, 1969:

http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com/?vid=18555867

I discuss the Cuyahoga fire in my “Green Mind” chapter in 1969: The Year Everything Changed, along with the Santa Barbara Oil slick from ‘69, the People’s Park riots, and the beginnings of Earth Day–or, I should say, Earth Days, as the phrase was applied to two different dates and celebrations.  The first one took place on March 21, 1970, organized by faith-based activist and pacifist John McConnell as a regional event in San Francisco to be held on the spring solstice, and to draw attention to the need for peace and environmental balance.  Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson prompted a nationwide “teach-in” day on the environment for April 22. Nelson said later, “John McConnell may have used the phrase Earth Day before we did, [but] ours was a political exercise. His was a peace exercise.” 

John McConnell's Earth Flag from the early 1970s, featuring the "Big Blue Marble" photo taken during Apollo 17.

McConnell, who also designed the Earth Flag (left) said decades later, “The most damaging lie about the environment is that statement that ‘Earth Day is April 22.’” But the April date is the one that has grown into an international celebration.

You can read more about the international Earth Day by clicking on the following links:

http://www.earthday.net/node/77

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

Don’t waste your time sending me comments.  It’s easy to tell which “comments” are from spammers because they come from suspicious email addresses and rarely have anything to do with my postings.  I delete them all.  If I continue to receive such messages, I will only make life hard for the senders.  Thank you.

Given the inaugural 2009 season of CitiField, when the ballpark served more as a testament to the Wilpon family’s Brooklyn Dodgers fetish than to the Mets’s own history, I was pleasantly surprised on Saturday when I got to see the new Mets Hall of Fame.  In addition to the requisite plaques for all team inductees, the HOF houses both World Series trophies, jerseys worn by Mets greats and near-greats, Tom Seaver’s Cy Young and Sportsman of the Year awards, one of Keith Hernandez’s 11 Gold Gloves, and – perhaps most impressive of all – the glove worn by Tommie Agee when he made both of his highlight catches in Game 3 of the ‘69 series (a Spalding Johnny Callison Autograph model) and the infamous “shoe polish ball” from the Game 5 clincher.

In an interview just posted on Spinner, former Rolling Stones tour manager Sam Cutler talks for the first time about the infamous Altamont Free Concert from December 1969.

http://www.spinner.com/2010/03/29/sam-cutler-rolling-stones-altamont/?ncid=webmaildl2

Cutler blames the fiasco that occurred that day on the fact that the stage was only three feet high, which is one factor I cited in my Huffington Post piece commemorating the 40th anniversary of Altamont:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-kirkpatrick/the-day-the-music-died-th_b_381731.html

For more on this and other incidents, both good and bad, from that memorable year, check out 1969: The Year Everything Changed (Skyhorse Publishing, 1969).

As we approach the 2010 World Cup–to be held this year in South Africa for the first time ever–you’ll want to check out this amazing story of how soccer (or football) was used as a tool of resistance on Robben Island under apartheid.

Just listen to what others have already said about this remarkable book:

“It’s well worth reading, even by those who don’t know a thing about soccer.”–Booklist

“This story of the victims of political oppression, and how they found dignity and hope through sport, stands as a remarkable testament to the human spirit.”–Bob Costas

“In my more than forty years of covering sports at the New York Times and for CBS and PBS, I have never seen a story that has so vividly brought together the nature of games, politics, and the human spirit.”–Robert Lipsyte

“This story adds a compelling dimension to our understanding of the struggle against apartheid.”–Desmond M. Tutu

“A fascinating account of the immense importance of the sport.”–The Guardian (UK)

More Than Just a Game publishes on April 27, but you can pre-order it here: http://us.macmillan.com/morethanjustagame