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Forty-two years ago to the day, the first Earth Day got off the ground. Ironically, last year on this day we were getting news on the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, unfolding and creating probably one of the worst environmental disasters in that region. So maybe we were preoccupied and cynical on that particular day. On this particular Earth Day it may seem more cynical and loaded with lip-service than it has before and even acknowledgment of the day seems not to be coming from mainstream media aside from scant mention of it.

But on the first Earth Day there was promise and there was commitment and people were involved. NBC's Today Show devoted an entire week to the cause of the environment (back when the Today Show had something of a conscience going for it).

Hugh Downs (host – Today Show): “We’re exploring the grassroots sentiment of the Ecology Movement today and concerning ourselves with the social implications in the struggle to cleanse and to save our environment.”

As the years have gone by, and we're further and further away from the first Earth Day, the original vision and intent seems to have gotten lost, smeared, ignored and belittled by those elements portraying the Environmental movement as overrun with agenda-grinders and lunatics. It has lately been demonized as some extreme left-wing conspiracy by some, even though one of the original founders of the movement was a Republican (Pete McCloskey R-CA.).

That part seems to be missing along with the original message.

In case you forgot, here is what it sounded like on April 22, 1970, excerpted from that first hour of the Today Show.

(Earth Day 1990 - it's heart was in the right place)

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Earth Day 1990 was more organized (and more commercially exploited)than it was at its beginning in 1970. On the one hand, there was more awareness of the fragile nature of our planet. But on the other hand it made for good sales pitches and Mainstream Media went overboard with celebrity endorsements, TV specials and eco-friendly (or just re-packaged) products.

There were still the arguments over Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases - and even in 1990 battle lines were being drawn. The EPA had been decimated during the Reagan years, and it was unlikely Bush Senior would reverse any of it.

Jeremy Rifkin (author: The Green Lifestyle Handbook): “We’re talking about a crisis, that’s unparalleled in human history. We have literally affected the biochemistry of a planet with global warming. And it’s not an accident or bad luck, it literally is the bill for our industrial consumer way of life.”

On Earth Day 1990 ABC Radio, in true soundbite/syndicated/rapidfire/pre-digested fashion, put together a "documentary" as well as a call-in portion hosted by Hugh Downs. The program covered a wide range of topics concerning the environment and featured a number of advocates, all of whom lay the blame squarely on the government and warned of increasing problems down the line unless action was taken and our conspicuous consumption came to an end. The intentions may have been good and the concerns were serious, but mainstream media had that irritating knack of making it all seem like lip-service.

Whether or not anybody actually listened to it is one thing. The fact remains that our current state of environmental wreckage is only marginally better than it was twenty years ago - a lot better than it was forty years ago. But there's still a very long way left to go.