A Hungarian Chiller

A skeletal hand places a rose in a glass against a bleak background. Although this stamp might seem, at first glance, a tribute to the fiction of Edgar Allen Poe, the chilling image calls attention to a real-world fear, namely:

a) nuclear power plants
b) the AIDS epidemic
c) water pollution
d) landfills

The wave symbol at the top left of the stamp provides an additional clue that the consequences of water pollution are symbolically represented by this sobering image (c).

Postage stamps have played an important role in raising awareness about threats to the environment ever since the first international Earth Day celebration in 1970.

By the 1990s, countries such as Germany had even released semi-postals with revenue marked for specific environmental programs.

The US Post Office might be said to have heralded the “Green” stamp initiative with its series of four Conservation stamps, beginning in 1964. This Hungarian item is from a 1975 set on the topic.