Google went green and so did dozens of comic strips while President George W. Bush opted for a traditional tree-planting on Tuesday to mark Earth Day, an environmental event that has become increasingly political and corporate.
Thirty-eight years after Earth Day began as a series of grassroots "teach-ins" about environmental conservation and pollution, April 22 has become an occasion to focus attention on human-generated climate change and the policies around it - a topic not on the public mind in 1970.
The method for getting the message across has certainly evolved. Google.com's online search site featured a lush logo with letters made of moss-covered boulders, a tree sprouting from the "L" and a waterfall flowing beneath it. Clicking on the image led to a list of Earth Day-related sites.
The comics pages in many U.S. newspapers featured strips with environmental themes. "Zippy The Pinhead" was typical: the short-sighted residents of Dingburg save the Earth by packing dirt into suitcases and keeping them in a storage locker.
"With such teeny attention spans, they're blissfully unaware of the worldwide crisis we're all responsible for!" the strip's narration read.
Bush was in New Orleans for the so-called "Three Amigos" summit with leaders from Canada and Mexico. All three were scheduled to plant a tree in honor of the day.
On the presidential campaign trail, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain offered statements urging a focused U.S. environmental and energy policy.
"Our leaders in Washington have to put what's right for our planet ahead of what's good for their friends in the energy industry," Obama, an Illinois senator, said in a statement on the day of the presidential primary in Pennsylvania, where he is in a tight race with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
