Earth Day

Every now and then, you get a press release that breaks new ground in the areas of creativity and hilarity. This is one of those times. Yesterday, the CIA sent out an Earth Day press release highlighting the agency's environmentally friendly initiatives.  Their plan? Burning documents.  Seriously. You can't make this stuff up. The release said:  "The Central Intelligence Agency’s practice of shredding and burning classified papers—often referred to in movies and books as “ burn after reading ” —is one of several ways the CIA conserves energy, reduces its impact on the environment, and lowers costs through its sustainability efforts.

From growing vegetables in your backyard to reflecting on ways to make the Earth a safer, more peaceful place to live, the Baltimore area offers plenty of ways to commemorate Friday's 33rd annual Earth Day . Here are just a few: Art exhibit "The Process of Peace," on display through May 20 at the Towson ARTS Collective, features works that evoke the artists' personal peace processes, what they do to further the movement toward peace...

--- Get a free cup of Caribou Coffee on April 22 when you bring in your own mug. Save 50 cents everyday when requesting a drink in reusable mug. --- Get a free cup of Starbucks coffee or tea when you bring a reusable mug to a participating location on April 22. (You can also request the beverage in a "for here" mug, if you don't have one of your own.) Bring your own mug any other day of the year and you'll save 10 cents on any beverage . --- Bring five plastic shopping bags to the Disney Store on Friday, April 22 and get a free reusable shopping tote . Just be warned: outlet locations are not participating.  --- Lowe's is giving away 1 million trees on April 23 . Stop by and pick one up while supplies last, and don't forget to bring along your old CFLs, plastic bags, batteries and plastic paint pots for recycling.

Friday marks the 41 s t anniversary of Earth Day and provides the customary opportunity to take stock of the environmental movement in this country. Unfortunately, for all the talk of the greening of America, it's been a pretty rotten 12 months for the planet and its defenders. Just look at the bookend events: A year ago this week, the Gulf of Mexico suffered the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Whatever the lessons learned from that trauma, it hasn't resulted in big changes to the country's oil-dependent energy strategies.

April 22 is Earth Day. It was on that day in 1970 that Americans made the decision to get involved with the environment, its preservation and beauty. And now, 41 years later, the environment is the focus of many awareness groups and is ever-present in political dialogue. The Climate Change Initiative of Howard County is one such group. This grassroots organization's mission is to inspire and engage residents in efforts such as reducing the county's “carbon footprint,” or carbon emissions that harm the environment.

The photo in the Baltimore Sun on May 1 of the white gannet covered in brown oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a casualty of an invasion, one caused by our relentless desire for cheap energy and willful ignorance of the consequences. A man who earns his living in Louisiana described being able to smell the oil as it approached the coastline, the destroyer of everything he knows and loves. The invader represents an addict who up to now has shown no interest in weaning off of oil. Oil "independence" still means using oil. And the hurricane season starts in less than a month.

Small, eager hands reached for the bright yellow fishing rods on a picture-perfect Earth Day at the edge of the Magothy River. Young voices called out questions. Grins decorated carefree faces. Forty years after the first celebration April 22, we're still fouling the nest. That's the bad news. But for the good news, visit Eagle Cove School in Pasadena, where students talk the talk and walk the walk. In 2005, Eagle Cove -- then known as Gibson Island Country School -- was named a Maryland Green School for its extensive environmental science program.

Customers in pursuit of big savings on energy-efficient appliances streamed into stores across Maryland on Thursday, ready to spend and happy to grab one of the state's new Cash for Appliances rebates. The Maryland Energy Administration has $5.4 million in federal economic stimulus grants to pass along to consumers who replace certain older appliances with new models on the state's list of the most energy-efficient products. "We needed a new refrigerator, and with the different rebates, from BGE and the state, and the sale [at the Sears store in Columbia]

Earth Day at the Clarksville home of Sydney Ostroff, 9, her brother Jonah, 7, and their parents, Len and Michelle, was quite an extravaganza under sparkling blue skies. The kids got time off from school Thursday and doughnuts to eat, while about 60 news reporters, photographers, construction workers, politicians, bureaucrats and neighbors, all overseen by a clattering TV helicopter, watched Gov. Martin O'Malley and Howard County Executive Ken Ulman help install photovoltaic solar panels on their roof.

On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, what environmental legislation should we celebrate most? What bill has really stood tall for our fragile planet? The Endangered Species Act of 1973? The Clean Air Act of 1990? Or … the District of Columbia's plastic bag tax of 2010? Actually, despite my gratitude for healthy lungs and spotted owls, I would vote for D.C.'s brand new 5-cent tax on plastic bags. The concepts behind this local municipal bill, believe it or not, are the best tools we now have for saving our global environment, including solving the crisis of climate change.