Earth Day, that boisterous, mass and grass roots celebration of the planet and how we can stop smutching it, began 40 years ago with millions of college students protesting, some wearing gas masks to show their concern about pollution. Now, some young singles are hoping to meet their eco-other in Earth Day Speed Dating (“Are you looking for a randy recycler? Do you consider yourself a charismatic composter?”), in just one of thousands of events registered with the Earth Day Network. Ironically, anyone as old as Earth Day itself is too old for this green matchmaking scheme — the cutoff is 38.

Think about it. When Earth Day began, there was no Environmental Protection Agency, stamps cost six cents, a gallon of gas 36 cents, the Dow was in the 800s and California became the first state to enact No Fault Divorce laws. Now environmental disputes can cause a divorce. As the New York Times reported this year, “Therapists say they are seeing a rise in bickering between couples and family members over the extent to which they should change their lives to save the planet. In households across the country, green lines are being drawn between those who insist on wild salmon and those who buy farmed, those who calculate their carbon footprint and those who remain indifferent to greenhouse gases.”

Sadly the environmental fault lines don’t stop at the domestic doorstep. Environmental issues, and climate change in particular, are deeply divisive political issues nationally.

It was President Nixon who ushered in clean air, water, solid waste and pesticide laws, coastal zone management planning seed money, new national parks, wildlife habitat protection; congress even passed Nixon’s controversial proposal to protect endangered species. Mr. Nixon’s executive orders restricted ocean dumping and tightened environmental standards for offshore oil drilling.

Earth day is more than just garbage removal. — Phil Henderson

Now his Republican party chants “Drill, baby, drill” and is blocking climate change legislation.

Like 1970, however, these times present an unprecedented opportunity to make it politically unpalatable for politicians of either party to stop environmental protection efforts.

Nationally, thousands will gather in Washington to “stop protecting polluters and enact comprehensive climate legislation that will create American jobs, cap carbon emissions and secure our nation’s future,” according to the Earth Day organizers’ Web site. Sting will be among the performers, and speakers will include author Margaret Atwood, Avatar director James Cameron, Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong and the civil rights orator Jesse Jackson. The march is on April 25, the Saturday after Earth Day (April 22).

But the day is not only about prompting global action. It’s about making personal commitments. On Earth Day itself, teachers are asked to get their students involved in the natural world, with lesson plans available through the No Child Left Inside initiative. Some are doing water audits of their school, or examining ways to make their classrooms closer to paperless. But in an era where field trip funding has disappeared and kids spend 30 hours a week in front of a screen rather than in the green, the simple act of bird-watching or nature sketching can bring a child a much larger appreciation for nature. As the naturalist John Muir said, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”

On the Vineyard, kids are welcome at the Island’s own Earth Day tradition: the beach cleanup.

Martha’s Vineyard Girl Scouts pitch in to pitch out every year. — Phil Henderson

Now in its 18th year, the Earth Day Beach Cleanup organized by the Vineyard Conservation Society has grown to depend on kids, and on many community groups who take the lead at one of the 17 beaches that are involved in the organized spring clean. Kids in Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, in Roots and Shoots, and in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program take ownership of cleanups.

So do members of the Surfcasters Association, the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, the Rod and Gun Club, churches, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the Friends of Sengekontacket and the Lagoon Pond Association, plus the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, the YMCA, the Tisbury Waterways (TWI), the Squibnocket homeowners association and the county corrections department.

But anyone can just show up to help at any of the beaches. The beach cleanup is tomorrow — Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to noon. Bags and gloves are provided, but if you can, bring your own (recycle!) Kids who participate enjoy a raffle, where the winner gets a $50 gift certificate at Riley’s Reads. Plus all volunteers are invited to a lunch at SBS afterwards.

Last year, the 200 volunteers collected 22 dump trucks full of trash. Once they unearthed a car door around Lake Tashmoo. VCS operations coordinator Signe Benjamin says “oil filters from fishing boats, nips, bottles and plastic, plastic, plastic” are all more common, “disturbingly common.”

It’s about environmental awareness and changing behaviors, VCS executive director Brendan O’Neill said in a video made at last year’s cleanup. Cleaning up tons of plastic gets people thinking about consumption, what we buy and how it is packaged.

Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary will host a beach walk and cleanup on Earth Day — Thursday, April 22 — beginning at 11 a.m. (bring a lunch for a picnic afterwards).

Then, on Saturday, April 24, it’s volunteer day at Felix Neck, where eco-assistants can help in one of three projects from 9 a.m. to noon: preparing the butterfly garden (planting, re-chipping the path, rejuvenating the soil); building a visitor’s bench (bring whatever tools you can); and removing invasive species (bring gardening gloves if you can). The sanctuary will host a barbecue lunch for volunteers after the work day to celebrate. Take your family, or take a chance — maybe you’ll meet your eco-other.

Trashmoo: pondside cleanup fills a Honda Civic. — Phil Henderson

The VCS beach cleanup is Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to noon at the following locations: in Edgartown, State Beach, Bend in the Road, Fuller street, Wilson’s Landing and South Beach; in Oak Bluffs, State Beach, Little Bridge, Town Beach at Sea View, Marinelli Beach; in Tisbury, Vineyard Haven Harbor at Tisbury Texaco, Lagoon Pond Town Landing, Tashmoo Opening, Owen Park Beach, Lake street Landing, Eastville Beach; up-Island, Lambert’s Cove Beach, Squibnocket Beach, Lobsterville Beach, Menemsha Beach, Cedar Tree Neck and Moshup Beach.