April 20th, 2016

Ask A Cartoonist: Celebrating Earth Day

by Tea

This Friday is Earth Day! While of course we know it’s important to think about our planet every day of the year, I wanted to take a moment this week to ask our cartoonists what they do to celebrate– or how their characters celebrate.

Bill Griffith, Zippy the Pinhead:

In Dingburg, Zippy’s home town, concern for the environment is way down on everybody’s list. After all, they buy all their food either frozen or powdered and shop based entirely on package design and advertising. They just live for the moment, caring little for long-range climate impact or unintended consequences.

Wait a minute…I think I just described most of America.

Mort Walker, Beetle Bailey:

I celebrate Earth Day by going out and patting and kissing the ground.

John Rose, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith:

As this comic strip from a couple of years ago shows, Snuffy Smith celebrates Earth Day by getting a little closer to it! So, in actuality then, he must celebrate Earth Day EVERY day!

Jim Keefe, Flash Gordon & Sally Forth:

Flash Gordon takes care of the world around him by protecting the Earth from Ming’s constant invasions.

Bill Holbrook, Kevin & Kell, On the Fastrack, and Safe Havens:

The merfolk in Safe Havens are constantly cleaning up after us.

Alex Hallatt, Arctic Circle:

Arctic Circle has an underlying environmental theme because I care about the world we live in and I want to share that with readers in a way that is entertaining. By the end of my life, I would like to have given back as much, if not more, than I have taken from the world. I don’t do anything different for Earth Day, but I think it is important for communicating about environmental issues to people in general and not just greenies.