The Scenic City comes together to celebrate Earth Day
This year, as we celebrate Earth Day, let’s enjoy nature for what we’ve made it, not what it is. Each year, since 1970, people all over the world host events designed to celebrate the life-giving planet we call home. The celebration of Earth Day came about after the tumultuous decade of the 1960’s wherein conservation efforts were born.
In the 1960’s, long after President Ulysses S. Grant established the first national park at Yellowstone in 1872, people began contemplating the effects of the industrial age around the same time we were sending men to the moon, striving for racial equality, and pursuing a free and better world. This was an age of huge undertakings that required effort and collaboration on a global scale.
It wasn’t until December 24, 1968, that us earthlings got a proper view of our small, infinitesimal world. The photo, dubbed Earthrise, was taken by astronaut Bill Anders from the Apollo 8 lunar orbit spacecraft. For the first time in human history, we saw the Earth for the raw, distant, lonely figure that it really is.
It shown brilliantly in the darkness of space yet seemed to hang by a mere thread in the vastness of space. So, on the greatest scale yet, we were laid bare by the fierce incomprehensibility of nature. It is the role of nature to reduce us to what we really are—fragile human beings.
All this to say, we’ve finally started getting our act together and that’s something to celebrate. For Chattanooga, the landscapes and ecosystems that reside here are a large part of our economy and identity. To put this into context, consider that we are home to the Tennessee Aquarium/ Conservation Institute, Moccasin Bend National Park, and the Chattanooga Zoo.
The Lonely Planet ranked Chattanooga as one of the best in the U.S., as of 2018, for outdoor adventure. We are home to one of the most sought-after places in the South for horseback riding, hang gliding, rock climbing, road and mountain biking, hiking, and white-water rafting.
This Earth Day, put a smile on your face and enjoy the realms of nature that have been so carefully crafted for your enjoyment and health. We can always consider Earth Day a reminder to do better, but we should also remember that it is a celebration, or at least, that’s what Mark McKnight, president of the local Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center, would consider ideal.
“We’re in an interesting time in our history where we have cleaned up a lot,” McKnight believes. “The institution of Earth Day was really a grassroots effort which called attention to what it really means to take care of the Earth. Can we all come together with others, interested in various aspects of nature and strengthen our bonds?”
As a result, McKnight has coordinated an Earth Day festival for Chattanooga which is unlike anything we’ve seen before. All day this Saturday at the Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center, expect what McKnight calls a “circus.”
There will be the Brow Beater Trail Race from Rock/Creek, their annual Native Plant Sale, lunch with Chattanooga Brewing Co. beer and food trucks, mountain bike and fly-fishing demos, Chattanooga Whiskey, “hike with a hawk”, live music from the Slim Pickens Band, hot-air balloon rides, guided moonlight paddling, and overnight camping provided by The North Face.
So, this year be a part of the community, the effort, and the fun. Happy Earth Day, Chattanooga!