Earth Day

I’m doing songs for Earth Day this Wednesday, and I have thoughts about what this day has been and is today. In 1970 when Earth Day started the US was behind the environmental movement for the most part. President Nixon even signed an executive order to establish the Environmental Protection Agency the same year. The ecology flag was seen often, and in general we had a group understanding that the earth needed care and management to maintain the health of humanity and all the flora and fauna that make it all work together. I can remember when I worked at Philmont Scout Ranch in the late 1970s having what we called the Wilderness Pledge which stressed principles of conservation and respect for the land and water while leaving no trace of our passing. But eventually there was pushback from big money concerns who wanted less regulation and ways of operating more cheaply and with less regard for the environment. So it became less cool to care for the environment. In the late 1980s I helped teach courses on oil spill containment and cleanup where I was often teased for being a “tree hugger” by employees of oil companies who were required to have a certification in oil spill recovery. That was a long time ago now, and things have become very political around environmental concerns in the interim. I still care for the environment and this earth we call home although I’m sure I haven’t done enough to support progress on protecting it. I’m still taken by what Carl Sagan wrote when he saw the picture of earth taken from the Voyager 1 space probe. In the picture the earth is a tiny blue dot in a shaft of light. Carl wrote -

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

“The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

“It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

And we just had a flyby of the moon by 4 astronauts aboard the Artemis 2 spacecraft where astronaut Christina Koch said - 

“The thing that changed for me, looking back at Earth, was that I found myself noticing not only the beauty of Earth, but how much blackness there was around it and how it just made it even more special. It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive. We evolved on the same planet, and we have some shared things about how we love and live that are just universal. And the specialness and preciousness of that really is emphasized when you notice how much else there is around it.”

— Christina Koch, 2026

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What have I been up to?

Last week I had 11 senior facilities, but one had to cancel due to some technical difficulties. I played a variety of themes for all these places, and I think it went pretty well overall. I really do love playing for these folks.

My Wednesday online show was playing songs from 1966 - 60 years ago. It was loads of fun, and we will be revisiting more songs from 1966 next week. Everyone enjoyed it.

My Sunday online show was favorites and requests, and there were so many great requests from so many good folks who tuned in. We are truly blessed.

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What am I up to this week?

I have 12 senior facilities this week, and I’m sure I’ll be playing some songs for Earth Day if my folks are up for them. I always go with the flow on these shows - making for requests and working with the audience.

My Wednesday online show 7-8:45 mountain time will be songs for Earth Day as I wrote above. There are a bunch of good songs about the earth, and I know this will be a really nice show. I’d love to have you in the audience if you want to celebrate the day with me.

My Sunday online show 7-8:45 mountain time will be a special show from my good friend Deann and Matt’s house to celebrate birthdays of a couple of our folks. Deann always has some great ideas for the show, and she always does a great job picking favorites and being a marvelous host. Tune in if you can!

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That’s it for this week. I have put up Facebook events for most of my summer shows. If you’re on Facebook you can like the events to be reminded of them or you can always check them on my website calendar - tommunch.com/calendar. Summer is fast approaching! I hope you are healthy and happy.

Best,

Tom

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Details this week:

Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of songs about earth

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Wednesday, April 22, 7-8:45 pm mountain time

Who:  Tom Munch 

What:  playing and singing an online concert of favorites and requests

Where:  facebook.com/tom.munch and tommunch.com/online-concerts  

When:  Sunday, April 26, 7-8:45 pm mountain time