Hey friends, happy Earth Day! You know, Earth Day? The day we remember Gaylord Nelson and the spirit of the 70s and pretend we give a hoot about this toilet prison planet we all live on? Yeah, that day! Happy Earth Day! Let’s get real terrestrial and celebrate this world we’re choking with greenhouse gases and eternal plastics and cassette cases!

Wait, you still don’t remember Earth Day? No, not Arbor Day. EARTH DAY! Ugggh, okay, here’s a primer, courtesy of the Earth Day Network:

The idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes from Harvard as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land. April 22, falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, was selected as the date.

On April 22,1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. By the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. “It was a gamble,” Gaylord recalled, “but it worked.”

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995)—the highest honor given to civilians in the United States—for his role as Earth Day founder.

Remember now? Okay, great! Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re each going to load up our preferred mobile media player with songs that celebrate this planet and its environment that sustains us despite the heavy toll we humans, “the cancer of the biosphere” (as a colleague in public health once put it), exact upon it. Then we’re going to go outside – yes, the bright and scary place – and listen to those songs while doing something harmless and active to appreciate Mother Earth. Walking, kick-biking, making out with your goth gf in a public park, all innocuous activities are welcome!

And then, after that, we’ll develop more sustainable habits that reduce our carbon footprints, like biking to work, recycling and using less plastics, and eating less meat! Right? Right?

Anyway, here’s the playlist for your day of merrymaking and conscientious consumption. Add your own selection below!