This year Earth Day, on April 22nd, celebrated its 55th birthday. To me, Earth Day has always served as a reminder to honor Mother Earth. From the iridescent teal of a magpie’s tail, to the delicate icicles from tree roots to stream, to the epic orange and pink sunset skies silhouetting Emerald Mountain. How lucky I am to regularly see bears and moose and foxes, to hear ospreys and woodpeckers and a literal symphony of birdsong. These are daily and meaningful appreciations. But Earth Day is special. Looking back on its history helps to explain why that is.

Senator Gaylord Nelson was the originator of Earth Day in 1970, but the environment was already on the radar thanks to the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a New York Times bestseller. Her book detailed the harmful impact of chemicals on humans, wildlife, waterways and plants, and raised global awareness of these environmental damages, selling 500,000 copies in 24 countries. In 1967, because of Carson’s arguments in Silent Spring, scientists formed the Environmental Defense Fund to ban DDT.

In 1969, a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara garnered major public attention. Senator Nelson wanted to build that attention into a movement protesting air and water pollution.***

Senator Nelson, a Democrat, joined with Republican Representative Pete McCloskey and organizer Denis Hayes to organize nation-wide teach-ins on college campuses. They chose April 22 as it was a weekday between spring break and final exams, hoping to maximize student participation.

The day was dubbed Earth Day, and the idea caught on, morphing from campus teach-ins to a day of protests in parks and streets. 20 million Americans - at the time, 10% of the U.S. population - participated to decry the damage of 150 years of unchecked industry on the environment and human health. This movement was remarkable not only in size, but also in that it drew everyone together under one umbrella: Republicans, Democrats, rich and poor, business and labor leaders, rural and urban dwellers.

Did this massive turnout have an impact? It sure did. By the end of 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was created, and several crucial laws were passed: the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Clean Air Act, and the National Environmental Education Act. In 1972, the Clean Water Act was passed.

Earth Day has continued to build on that original vision and massive turnout, and is a global movement. In 2020, for the 50th anniversary, over 1 billion people worldwide participated in Earth Day actions, and 100 million observed the 50th anniversary online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This year’s Earth Day theme is Our Power, Our Planet, focusing on renewable energy in order to triple clean energy by 2030. To be clear, various forms of energy production have both pros and cons. Learn more with these Earth Day Explainers.


***A little personal context: while earning my BA at UC Santa Barbara, I wrote for The Daily Nexus, the campus paper. In the late eighties, for my very first story, I interviewed one of the founders of GOO, or Get Oil Out, an organization that formed to fight off-shore drilling after the disastrous 1969 spill. 


Sources/Learn More
Earth Day.org:  History of Earth Day, includes a 1970 video with Walter Cronkite!
Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, April 22, 2025 podcast.
Heather Cox Richardson, Letters From an American April 22, 2025 printed version.

​Frailty: the condition of being weak and delicate.

In the Steamboat community in which I live, frailty is not common. Many people move here or stay here due to the high fitness levels and opportunities for recreation. But frailty does exist, even here, due to things like significant illness, aging, or even an inordinately long recovery from an injury or surgery. Though frailty is likely not on the radar for most of us, being aware is a helpful safeguard against whatever life brings your way.

*****
Frailty is often related to aging, but is certainly not an inevitable part of aging. Further, there are steps you can take to decrease your risk of frailty.

A person is considered frail if they display three of these signs: muscle weakness, slower walking pace, low physical activity, diminished energy, and unintentional weight loss. Now, to be fair, I experience muscle weakness, a slower walking pace and diminished energy on any given exhausting weekday. But consistently exhibiting these signs over a period of time, seeing the signs impact your normal daily activities, is cause for checking in with your doctor, as frailty can lead to falls or even dementia.

Be aware of pre-frailty signs, such as difficulty opening jars (weak grip strength), crossing the street taking longer than it used to, experiencing fatigue or having to take a break from activities that used to be no problem. If you are experiencing these signs, early intervention is possible - and again, worth an appointment with your physician.

So how does one reverse symptoms of frailty?

Increase exercise; lifting weights the gold standard of preventing or reversing frailty. 
The standard recommendation for exercise is 150 minutes per week. Strength training can include body weight exercises and movements with weights. Working with a trainer who is certified for your specific age group might be helpful. And modalities like Essentrics, yoga, and Tai Chi  improve balance which can help prevent falls.

Eat plenty of high-quality protein.
When you eat sufficient protein you preserve your muscle mass, and higher protein intake is correlated with reduced frailty risk. The standard recommendation is .8 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, but some experts suggest more. Working with a nutrition specialist or dietician would be helpful here. 

Don’t wait to take action.
Best-case scenario is to establish the habits of consistent exercise and healthy nutrition early on, and to maintain those habits. But it is important to remember that it is never too late to re-adopt those habits if the curve balls of life have led you to frailty. This is good news - you can regain health - frailty is not a dead-end street.


Source/Learn More
The Optimist Daily: How to spot early signs of frailty and build strength for the long run.

​Imagine not being allowed to enter a running race because you are a woman. 

That was the state of things in the late 1960’s, when Kathrine Switzer joined the Syracuse men’s running team. She began running with an older coach, Arnie, who became a consistent running partner, sharing his stories from his decades of training and racing. 

One December evening when finals had just completed, Arnie showed up for their evening 10-miler, despite the blizzard conditions. Kathrine resisted but was finally persuaded to head out. They ran along roadsides, dodging cars, their canvas sneakers and cotton sweats soaked by the winter storm. At one point in their conversation, Arnie mentioned that a “girl” could not run the Boston marathon - a distance of 26.2 miles. Kathrine stopped in her tracks and held her ground, until they had an agreement: if she could run 26 miles in training, they’d do the Boston Marathon.

Kathrine trained all winter, without telling her boyfriend or her parents about her goal. She and Arnie completed 31 miles one training day, and the next day Arnie brought her the application for Boston. They had examined the rules, and nowhere did it state that females could not enter, although at that time the couple of women who did participate hid in the bushes near the start and jumped in, then jumped out right before the finish.

Switzer, a journalism student, completed her application with the name K.V. Switzer, as that was her byline. Her medical clearance required for the race stated her full name. Her application was accepted and she was officially entered in the Boston Marathon. 

The Boston Marathon is always run on Patriot’s Day, the third Monday in April. 

At the starting line on April 19th, 1967, Kathrine, accompanied by Coach Arnie, her boyfriend Big Tom, and Arnie’s friend John, were warmly greeted by the male runners all around. A few miles into the marathon, a press vehicle drove up, and race director Jock Semple jumped out. A large, imposing man, he began to physically and verbally attack Switzer, screaming that “no woman can be in this race!” He tried to rip her number off, and she managed to avoid him though she was in complete shock from the unexpected onslaught. Tom stepped with a body block that sent Semple to the curb, and the foursome ran on, worried about reprisal, or possible arrest. Tom accused Kathrine of causing him to get in trouble and ruining his Olympic chances for track and field, ripped up his own race numbers, and took off. Kathrine would eventually pass him, still on the course, and though he begged her to slow up and stay with him, she chose to continue running. 

She had begun to understand, not only from Semple’s attack, but from the variety of reactions of female spectators (loud cheers, frozen silence, hostility), that her finishing Boston was infinitely more than simply running a race, and certainly not a stunt which some were suspicious of. It was about finishing strong, and showing what women were capable of. 

Kathrine was so focused on what this race had come to mean, and still processing all that had happened, that they were up and over Heartbreak Hill without her even realizing it. She might have not only been the first woman to officially run Boston, but also the first person to be unaware of Heartbreak Hill!

Keep in mind that back then, there were no aid stations, and they did not drink or eat. Kathrine finished in 4 hours 20 minutes - quite a decent time. Her feet were so covered in blisters that she was treated by a doctor at the finish line. She, and the pictures of Semple attacking her, became national news. Check out this video of the story from Kathrine herself.

Following Boston, Kathrine became a lifelong advocate for women’s running. She also trained intensely, and would eventually run the 6th fastest time in the world (at the time) at Boston - a 2:51 in 1975, and she won the New York City Marathon - 3:07 in 1974. She remains the last resident of New York to win the New York City Marathon, and her margin of victory over the next woman finisher (27:14) remains the biggest margin of victory in that race. In 2017, at the age of 70, Kathrine Switzer ran Boston, 50 years after her first running of it. Her time was 4:45. 

Switzer went on to champion women’s running, traveling globally to promote races as the founder of Avon Running Global Women’s Circuit. Those races, over 400 in 27 countries, for over a million women, were a factor in her successful lobbying to finally have the women’s marathon event in the 1984 Olympics. Kathrine, fittingly, was commentator, as Joan Benoit Samuelson decisively won the day.

I think of Kathrine Switzer on cold snowy training mornings, knowing that my modern technical gear keeps me dry. On long runs, I have a vest I can stuff with hydration and food. I know I can enter any race I want to and the race director will not try to rip my number off. 

My weeks of early runs, long work days, and volunteer work on evenings and weekends for the things I’m passionate about also remind me of her. She put in more time than I, and sacrificed her health at one point. Her accomplishment of inspiring women all over the world to run, and bringing the women’s marathon to the Olympics, created opportunities for women, and allowed many to believe in themselves, some for the first time. 


Sources/Learn More
Kathrine Switzer website
Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer

This year, the Boston Marathon will be run on April 21st. 

​You might notice that going for a walk outdoors when you feel tired, stressed, irritated or sluggish helps you feel better. Time in nature is not only pleasant, it is a powerful component in our well-being. It supports our connection to one another and the larger world and allows us to have greater focus (focused attention is easier in nature than in a big city).

A study at the University of Exeter showed that people who spent at least two hours per week in nature were healthier compared with those who spent less than two hours. Research demonstrates that being in nature helps to reduce fear, anger, depression, anxiety, and even pain. In one study of patients recovering from gallbladder surgery, those who could view a tree from their hospital bed experienced less pain than those who viewed only a wall.

Peter H. Kahn, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, says that it is important to experience nature not just visually, but to engage fully. The Japanese term for soaking in all of the amazingness of nature is called “forest bathing.” That doesn’t mean you roll around in the dirt, it simply means that you immerse yourself with active awareness in the time you spend outdoors. One of the theories related to forest bathing is that breathing in the scent of the forest aerosols helps increase tumor- and infection-fighting Natural Killer cells. 

Some suggestions for applying all five senses as a way to more completely immerse:

• Listen: birdsong (a soloist bird or an entire choir?), the wind in the trees (needles or leaves?), chattering (squirrels or little kids?!) 
• Feel: the sunshine on your skin, the coolness of the shade, the breeze in your hair
• Smell: sharpness of pine in cold snow, warm musty earth on a sunny trail
• Taste: dust in the heat, ache of frigid cold, tang of rain or humidity
• See: flowers bright and vibrant, grass spring-lime or summer-emerald, pollen-gathering bees, food-gathering chipmunks 

However you choose to engage with nature, know that you are doing your mind and body good.

Sources

• University of Minnesota Article: How Does Nature Impact Our Well-Being?
• Yale Environment 360 Article: Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health

Originally published April 2023