I’m pretty sure it was the first Earth Day. In the spring of 1970 I was a 14 year old 8th grader at Glassboro Intermediate School. In a preview of coming geekdom I was a member of the A-V squad tasked with setting up the sound system for the big event. I don’t remember a lot of things from thirty-eight years ago, but I do remember what was going on this day.

What we were being taught in those days was that DDT, aerosol spray cans, and (of course) the automobile were all destroying the planet. In fact we were being taught (and believed) that a new ice age was only a few years away, probably before we graduated from college.

A large percentage of our teachers were recent college graduates. In other words, they were coming from the campuses of the late 60’s. It was reflected in their dress, their teaching style, and their attitude about the world around them. Many of them were hippies with a teaching certificate.

The one thing I remember about that day was the emphasis on “making a statement”. It was all about the show, not the science. Perhaps not all that much different than today. Our object lesson wasn’t about picking up trash, planting a tree, or any such thing.

Our statement was made by burying a car. Really.

The student body gathered outside the track that surrounded the football field. There behind the building that housed Shop, Art, and Home-Ec classes they had dug a big hole big enough to contain a teacher’s old VW Beetle. And we buried it.

In the years since I’ve often thought about that day. I doubt that anyone thought (remember, this was all about the show) to make sure the oil and gas were all safely drained. As far as I know that heap is still decomposing under ground, leaching whatever toxic components in contained into the surrounding area.

But to a bunch of 6th, 7th and 8th graders it was cool to see a car buried; a great show.

I guess not much has changed after all.