Last year on Earth Day I remember being disappointed that there seemed to be so little celebration of this critical day. This year, in my search for celebrations of Earth Day 2009, I came accross the charming yet poingnant video The Story of Stuff. "From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns...and exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues."

Below is a teaser of the video but be sure to watch the entire video on their website. It is translated into several languages so share internationally!

I haven't heard much discussion from either the media or our politicians on Earth Day. Are we actually back to the place we were in 1969 when the state of our environment was a non-issue? Has Earth Day become a local weekend entertainment event where bands and celebrities play music and preach to the choir?

Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson to put the environment into the political "limelight." It provided a forum for Americans to express their concerns and tapped into the anti-war sentiments of America's youth. Earth Day 1970 drew more than 20 million people to demonstrations and teach-ins at thousands of schools and local communities. Today celebrations are worldwide and draw more than 500 million participants. But where are our leaders? How come when I listened to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton yesterday I heard nothing about Earth Day?