Lady Bird Johnson on Earth Day

Earth Day wouldn’t be the same without Lady Bird Johnson. You remember her right? She was First Lady to President Lydon B. Johnson. She was also an avid flower lover (something we have in common)!  What I learned about her is that she was an incredibily passionate environmentalist who was instrumental in making conservation a part of the national dialog.

The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 was the result of her national campaign for beautification. One of my favorite things that she did during her time in the White House was gather all of her friends to plant thousands of tulips and daffodils at the U.S. Capital. How great is that?  Oh and the Silver Lining is that they are still there today!

Lady Bird also chaired the Town Lake Beautification Project, a community effort to create a hike and bike trail and to plant flowering trees along the Colorado River in Austin, Texas. She became a member of the National Park Service’s Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments in 1969 and served on the council for many years. She was also honorary chairman of the LBJ Memorial Grove on the Potomac in Washington, D. C. (Yeah I know, what did she NOT do?!)

On her 70th birthday in 1982, Lady Bird founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and re-establishment of native plants in natural and planned landscapes. She is inspiring me on this Earth Day 2015.