I’ve always wanted to live on an island, even though I cannot swim a stroke or paddle a boat.

The idea of island living has been my lifelong dream, and as I sit at the computer and see the sea gulls whipping past the window, I’m beginning to think my dream has come true.

But, no, sea gulls are just the fall-out of population and development increase and its resulting increase in trash! Trash bags beside the road, waiting for those wonderful guys in the big trucks, must mean snack time to the sea gulls. Our society sure is full of trash. Or something.

Earth Day was first celebrated in April, 1970. It was a nationwide event. Pete Seeger sang, activists spoke and opposition to the Vietnam War was worked into the event.

Long before Earth Day or Environment Fever, we were recycling as a routine part of life. Leftover food, if any, went to the pigs. They would recycle it into good bacon and ham. Outgrown clothing was passed down to the next child or given to a relative or friend and if all else failed, made into warm quilts. All paper went into the stove in the kitchen. Tin cans had their ends removed and were flattened, saved and sold to a guy who used to drive around town about once a month, collecting such stuff.

We had little family “recycling centers” tucked away in the woods – a big shallow hole which my father dug out and where we’d carry anything that couldn’t be fed to the pigs or chickens or burned. There were no seagulls anywhere to be seen.

My father was a carpenter and all of the leftover building materials would be sorted and piled up near the dump, covered up. Nothing was wasted. Even the shavings and sawdust produced in his shop were spread out in the garden and plowed into the ground with the fertilizer.

Broken appliances were fixed and when they couldn’t be fixed anymore, taken apart for the parts to be used. When metal cooking dishes, pails or wash tubs (don’t ask) got a hole in them, we mended them with something I think was called Mendzit. These were little flat pieces of metal which covered the holes. When they couldn’t be mended anymore, these containers were filled with good rich dirt and flowers or herbs were planted in them.

What I remember taking up over the knoll and to the little “dump” in the woods were broken dishes and broken bottles, old pieces of rubber hosing which had holes all through it. As plastic became commonly used in manufacture, we’d usually have some broken pieces of that. We had to bury broken glass, I remember, and shovel lots of dirt over it, tamping it down so no one would cut their feet. This was in the days when going barefoot was the way of life.

Sea gulls never appeared at our little dumping grounds. Crows, raccoons, skunks, fox and other woodsy creatures were pretty common. They were always skulking around looking for the dropped cookie or other snack.

Fast forward to the 21st century and our landfill closings and worry about global warming and pollution of the atmosphere and the earth. Now we gather up our leftovers and sort them out, bag them up and set them beside the road. Few four-legged critters come to investigate. Acres of blacktop have pretty much replaced their woodland home. We still mark Earth Day with special events. Some are protesting yet another war. And in the decades since that first Earth Day, seagulls have found their way to Windham.

See you next week.