As the High Sixties era lives on through our resurrection of nostalgic memories and manifestations of cultural and political trends, there have been some extinctions of distinction. Like maladapted prehistoric monsters that once roamed and ruled the earth, the outdated, obsolete, and impractical did not make the Darwinian cut no matter how down-to-earth.

One such woolly mammoth was the fallout shelter. Anything but balmy, these underground bomb bunkers buried deep in the earth, were designed to prevent our eradication from radiation in case of nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. Had such an atrocity occurred, our coming out would only bear testament to society’s destruction before we eventually succumbed to all the contaminants in the air and water supplies.

For all that duck and cover in fear of nuclear annihilation, the earth is presently proliferated with nuclear power plants whose radiation emitted from accidents or nature’s cataclysms hover over us like Hiroshima’s palpable mushroom cloud—our square one fear!

While Hippies may be an endangered species for reasons of retreating to a tie-dyed, secluded nirvana, or worse—nearing retirement from a white collar position in an Established institution-- they deserve mention for embracing down-to-earth, eco-friendly practices.

Besides popularizing patchouli—an earthy, pungent, mossy, fragrant oil-- they must have influenced a Sixties society to embrace earth tones which predominated our home aura during the era: avocado green, harvest gold, and mud brown. Also espousing free love, Hippies may have inspired those down-to-earth shag carpets so cushy to tread on going barefoot.

A requiem is in order for those extinct appliances of the Sixties—in particular, refrigerators and stoves that hunkered on ceramic tile or linoleum in the aforementioned shades of avocado green, harvest gold, or mud brown. Since those appliances were likely to use three or four times the power of today’s black, white, or almond models, it’s a safe bet these dinosaurs have been recycled.

What passed mustard or earned the bronze back then, stood ground against a backdrop of dark pine paneling or sunrise orange walls and routed cabinet doors. Psychedlic or somber, the tone depended upon your counter culture preferences.

Though the irrelevant may be extinct, the planet’s down-to-earth brilliance continues to emanate. Like lingering traces of radioactive fallout, a Sixties earthiness persists, albeit on a much smaller scale. My complete canister set, soup tureen, and coffee mugs are fully functional with their fruit-motif design in a harmonious palette of avocado, harvest gold, and sunrise orange. I’ve recently come across numerous avocado kitschy kitchen wares in the form of canister sets, mixing bowls, and Tupperware.

During the Sixties, we followed the Hippies Peace Movement by adopting a down-to-earth love fest resplendent in avocado green, harvest gold, mud brown, and sunrise orange. It doesn’t take a sage to impress upon us the need to get down to earth by engaging in eco-friendly practices to preserve the planet’s integrity. While obsolete relics of the past may amuse us, it behooves us to “Remember the Avocado.”