The movement formerly known as ecologySo my friend Frank's book reading/signing at Barnes and Noble was a huge success last night. But as fun as it was -- he did a great job -- I had an even better time going out for dinner (and drinks) with a bunch of his pals who came out to support him. As we were walking to the subway at the end of the night and everyone was grumbling about having to be up in the morning for work, this guy Tim mentioned how he was happy he wasn't in the same boat. I asked him what he did that enables this leisurely lifestyle, he said he was a professor so was off for the summer. I asked what he professed to which he replied something serious and technical about environmental science or something -- "I focus on ecosystem processes and biogeochemistry, and the role of ecology and seasonal dynamics in the evaluation of human impacts and restoration projects on aquatic ecosystems." (Shoo! I thought you were already corroded.) Sensing that he was a good decade or more younger than I am, I mentioned how I felt that "this generation" seems to think they invented conservation and concern for the planet, and how when I was a kid growing up in Madison Heights in the 1970s we routinely studied what was simply known as "ecology," complete with guidebooks on how protect the planet -- "recycle aluminum cans," "plant trees," "make a flower planter out of an old rubber tire"(!) -- and that my brother even had an "ecology flag lunchbox." Tim smiled quizzically and said in all of his studies and conference-goings, he'd never heard of any such symbol or flag (let alone a lunchbox), at which point I used my handy smartphone to produce this photo of one. (According to Wikipedia, the symbol was created by Ron Cobb back in 1969 as a combination of the letters "E" and "O" taken from the words "environment" and "organism," respectively. Look magazine incorporated the symbol into a flag in their April 21, 1970 issue. Then, after being placed into the public domain, a 16-year-old high school student in Louisiana made a 4 x 6 flag to commemorate the first Earth Day, only to have her school refuse to let her fly it. She eventually received authorization from the Louisiana Legislature and Gov. John McKeithen -- a Democrat -- in time to display the flag for Earth Day.)
Who's the environmental (lunchbox) expert now, Mr. Professor? :-)
7 comments:
Did you also remind your friend that the Panic-du-jour back in the heyday of the 70s was The Coming Ice Age.
Every generation has its Chicken Littles, I suppose. I, too, was a kid back in the days of disco (lived in West Bloomfield), and was in a constant state of fear that I'd wake up one day to a frozen world.
Today, my kids get to wake up wondering if today might be the day that global warming melts the polar ice-caps.
I say, give it another 10 years or so and we'll be back to yet another impending environmental catastrophe that will never come true until the next billion or so years have come and gone.
Everything old is new again.
Keith
OMG, I had the exact same lunchbox and thermos when I was a kid!
Even MORE fun than my book signing? Well, thanks alot! I will make sure Tim the Professor sees this post.
Hey Anthem - I grew up in West Bloomfield in the 70s too! Can't say I worried much about the environment though.
I LOVED Band Fags & I can't wait to hit the beach with the new book.
You travel with a talented & interesting crowd!
Now I'm doubly sorry that I missed last night's book thang with Frank and the ecology guy. Besides missing seeing you, it sounds like a good night out. (I did my master's thesis on ecological restoration of aquatic habitats ... hmmm.) And, to further advance my environmental credentials, I too had a green ecology flag sticker in elementary school.
My sticker was on my notebook. Where I grew up, lunch boxes were for girls. Ewww.
My GOD, I had one of those lunchboxes too! Thanks for the memory - last time I saw it it was tumbling into Crum Creek as a result of an ill-starred pebble toss, in 1973-ish.
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