Go Green!

Last Wednesday we celebrated Earth Day. This was the 40th anniversary of the original Earth Day on April 22, 1970. I know, some people would say that the 40th won’t come for another year, so I invite you to count on your fingers—or toes if you prefer—and you will find that the count will equal 40.

I vividly recall the first Earth Day, because that was also the day that our American Airlines freight terminal in Buffalo, New York burned to the ground. The resulting thick black smoke covered most of the surrounding area. It certainly was an argument for containing our carbon footprint.

Okay, I’ve finally come around, and I am now one of the believers. Global warming is real and we must do something to stem the tide and save the earth. The final proof was that ice shelf that broke away from Antarctica, even though scientists say that it actually has been cooler in Antarctica over the past decade.

I’ve also watched those poor polar bears floating away on the broken ice floes, and I really feel badly about that. Who did those cute bears ever hurt? Mankind must go green!

Now that I’ve joined the “save the earth” believers, I feel that I must contribute my own suggestion to lower man’s carbon footprint. We might not be in an irreversible trend, and I want to help. Therefore, here is my best effort to save the planet.

I recall that when I was just a kid, we never had late television shows. After the nightly news, sports and weather, the station always played the National Anthem, complete with a waving flag. Then the test pattern was broadcast for about ten minutes and the station went to bed for the night. Television didn’t come back on until about 6 AM.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen e-mail messages that reminisce about those “good old days” when we had the Star Spangled Banner, a prayer, and a test pattern to end the night for the TV stations. I don’t remember the prayer part, but the other two seem to have been in favor back then.

I figure that the six or so hours that television stations weren’t broadcasting, and viewers weren’t viewing saved us a lot of electricity. Think of it! One-quarter of each day was TV-free. And that was when we really only had a handful of stations broadcasting in the first place.

Now, increase the number of stations to what we have today on cable and satellite, and the carbon footprint is enormous. If we could go back to eighteen hours of broadcasting per day, it would save huge amounts of energy and green up the atmosphere in the bargain.

Of course, that would also mean that the late shows, The Tonight Show, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Larry King and such, would have to either cease or at the very least go to a prime time slot. If the late night comedians (and comediennes, not to exclude the women) are so darned good, wouldn’t they deserve to get prime time anyway?

In my opinion, the Late night entertainers should sacrifice themselves to help, and we should be willing to sacrifice our viewing pleasure, too. Isn’t it worth saving the earth for us to do this?

Most of the other fare on late night TV is trash, so we wouldn’t miss it at all. And just to save all that energy would be worth our giving up late night television.

There you have it… my contribution to Mother Earth. Gosh, I feel so much better now.