Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Earth Day Story

I've probably told this story before, but I can't resist sharing it again.
Before Earth Day became a national holiday it was celebrated in Berkeley, CA, where I worked in the dormitories at California School for the Deaf.
We were having major problems with head lice. None of the staff had ever encountered those pesky creatures before, and we knew nothing about them, but they were driving us crazy. No matter what treatments the nurses gave the students, the lice spread, and spread. (Now I know that was partly because every week we washed all their combs and brushes in one bathtub.)
Finally one of the counselors got fed up and went downtown to the Public Health Department. They gave her something they said would certainly get rid of the infestation.
So we spent the very first Earth Day putting DDT on the heads of all the children.
Of course nobody knew back then how toxic that chemical was and it did work.

8 comments:

Drashad said...

Happy earth day 2010 to all.

Mahesh said...

Nice story

billkirkwrites said...

Gone are the days when we used to run through the DDT fog sprayed by mosquito trucks back in the 50s. What great fun and it kept the mosquitoes off of us.

Janet Ann Collins said...

It didn't kill us, either. But it sure made my asthma worse.

Nicole weaver said...

Janet,
What a story! Thanks for sharing.
Nicole

NancyCL said...

What a memory and a great story too, Jan!

Janet Ann Collins said...

Thanks to everyone who left comments.

Cheryl said...

Wow! That's yucky and scary all at once. I bet you'll never forget Earth Day after that.

Cheryl