John McConnell
The forgotten first founder of Earth Day/Week was Pentecostal John McConnell[1] who sponsored food for Hong Kong refugees, and later "a minute for peace" [2] to just think about peace and the wellbeing of others for one minute a day. He decided if a minute was good, a whole day would be better, and after a speech at the U.N. (UNESCO), that became a global holiday to celebrate Earth's life and beauty and to advance peace, set for the Spring Equinox (March 21, 1970) or "Earth Day". And if the story stopped there, it would be fine. But it doesn't stop there.
Like often happens, when you feed the trolls (or Politicians/Glory-Seekers/etc), that take ideas (and taxes, laws, regulations) and pervert them for their own agendas. John MCConnell's dream fell victim to this truism.
Written 2018.04.15 |