Charlie Brown Clears the Air, 1979
Charles M. Schultz, “Storyboard for film ‘Charlie Brown Clears the Air’.” Source: Box 37, Collection 1675: “South Coast Air Quality Management District Records, ca. 1955-1983,” Archives and Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.
I found Charlie Brown in L.A. He was in an uncataloged box of EPA publications.
“Efficiency and Compassion: The Carter Regulatory Program.”
“Administration of the Toxic Substances Control Act (1979).”
"A World Fit for Chipmunks and Other Living Things"
And then there was Charlie and Snoopy, fighting air pollution.
Charlie was there for a film, “Charlie Brown Clears the Air,” produced by the American Lung Association and the EPA. Snoopy was complaining about the soot produced by backyard leaf burning, and roaring around on a poorly tuned motorcycle. Charlie and the team had dropped another game when Lucy lost a fly ball in the smog. Deciding to take action, the Peanuts gang taught their class ways to fight pollution: report pollution offenses; discourage backyard burning; keep your car tuned up; use mass transportation; and support local anti-pollutions programs.
“Charlie Brown has become concerned, and concern leads to action,” wrote Peanuts creator Charles Schultz. “I hope you will join him in the same concern and meaningful action to clear the air.” As honorary chairman of the Lung Association’s Christmas Seal campaign, Schultz had produced the film to offer “a special way of involving young minds in seeing, understanding, and taking upon themselves a sense of direct self-concern and self-responsibility for their environment.”
It was 1979, and the EPA was trying to make the world a cleaner, healthier place.
Image Sources:
Charles M. Schultz, “Storyboard for film ‘Charlie Brown Clears the Air’” Produced for American Lung Association with Supportive Grant and Cooperation from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1979). Available online through the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (as of January 25, 2017--download it while you can).
Black and white images taken by Roger Turner, from published storyboard in Box 37, Collection 1675: “South Coast Air Quality Management District Records, ca. 1955-1983,” Archives and Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.
Color image of Pigpen is a screen shot from the film, captured by Derrick Bang and posted on his blog at: http://impressionsofvince.blogspot.com/2013/03/posthumous-public-service.html
