Seniors Cape Cod Forum — April 1990

50 and up — Generations unite on Cape to save the planet

On April 22, 1990, the generations are uniting to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day. The activities have already begun locally with the recent “Earth Keeping Conference” held at the Cape Cod Community College. The most exciting aspect of it to me is that all ages are now involved.

The elderly generations are represented by Gilbert Grosvenor of National Geographic Magazine and leaders of a broad coalition of over 50 conservation-minded groups who have designated the week of April 22 as the National Celebration of the Outdoors.

As Grosvenor says in the April, 1990, issue of the National Geographic, “thousands of communities in all 50 states will celebrate..... The success of the celebration will rest on each individual’s realization that a small voice, if it is strong and clear, can be more powerful than a large groups of people that are silent”.

New England is ready for Earth Day. Senators John Kerry and Robert Stafford are co-chairs of New England Earth Day events. In Boston the generations will get together at an ENVIRO-FEST at the U-Mass Boston Harbor Campus on April 21. This will be followed by activities for the entire family at an Earth Day Kick-Off at Franklin Park Zoo on the 22nd along with a free concert at the Hatch shell on the Esplanade.

Cape Cod is ready, too, with among other events, an Earth Day benefit concert at the Mattacheese Middle School at 8 p.m. on April 21.

A feature of the New England Earth Day and Cape planning is the appeal for volunteers from the younger generations — K through 12 and college students. Another feature is the call for people of all ages to take the Earth Day Pledge:

The Earth Day Pledge

“I pledge to do my share in saving the planet by letting my concern for the environment shape how I...”

ACT
I pledge to do my utmost to recycle, conserve energy, save water, use efficient transportation, and try to adopt a lifestyle as if every day were Earth Day.

PURCHASE
I pledge to buy and use those products least harmful to the environment. Moreover I will do business with corporations that promote global environmental responsibility.

VOTE
I pledge to vote and support those candidates who demonstrate an abiding concern for the environment.

SUPPORT
I pledge to support the passage of local, state and federal laws and international treaties that protect the environment.

I’m happy to report that the younger generations on Cape Cod have already been at work to save the planet. In the spring of 1989, Jerry Schmeer, Jr., of West Yarmouth, then a student at the Cape Cod Community College, wrote an editorial in the college paper calling for a global pledge by the young.

The basic premise of the editorial was the hope that someday all the children of the world, at awakening, would make a pledge to planet Earth instead of to their own little plot of earth or colors.

Schmeer’s pledge is much simpler than the one called for by the New England Earth Day. It reads:

“I pledge my allegiance to the planet Earth, to make it a better, healthier and safer world for all.”

“It’s a simple idea,” notes Schmeer, “but think about it for a minute. Twenty-four hours a day, somewhere around the world, millions of children would be making this same pledge. Although we may not see immediate results, in a generation we may create a whole new world.”

After the editorial was repeated in the Cape Cod Times, there was an immediate response from at least two teachers, Susan Peters of the Osterville Elementary School and Joanne Claussen of the Edward Stone School in Bourne. Ms. Claussen’s class not only says the Global Pledge right after the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag each morning, but has begun a letter writing campaign to share the idea with students around the world.

“I echo Jerry Schmeer’s clarion call to all the generations. ‘It is my hope that by April 22, 1990, the twentieth anniversary of Planet Earth Day, all the children (and adults, too) on Cape Cod will at least be aware of the Global Pledge.’

I hope also that actions by all generations will follow the saying of the pledge.”