Earth Day 2005: A Call to Action The first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, marked the beginning of the environmental movement. It was on this day that our nation first commemorated our awareness of, and appreciation for, the wonders and value of our Earth’s natural resources. Today, on the eve of the 35th Earth Day, the fate of those resources hangs in the balance, and much of what our society purports to value is at risk. SUVs continue to dominate our roads, and various government agencies are actively gutting funding for conservation and resource protection programs. The state of environmental policy has become such a travesty that even activists have begun to wonder whether the environmental movement has become obsolete. History of Earth Day The concept of an Earth Day gained critical awareness in 1969, when social activist John McConnell proposed a global Earth Day celebration at a UNESCO conference. The United Nations embraced this proposal, and designated the March equinox (vernal in the northern hemisphere, autumnal south of the equator) as international Earth Day in 1970. The observance of Earth Day on April 22 in the U.S. owes to the efforts of Gaylord Nelson, a Senator from Wisconsin who initiated a nationwide day of education upon this date. Originally called the Environmental Teach-In, Senator Nelson wisely changed the name to the less trendy Earth Day. Congress then voted to turn Earth Day into an annual observance. Later that year, under considerable public pressure, President Richard M. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress went on to pass the Clean Air Act, which set air quality standards and goals nationwide for the first time, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which subjected all government actions to environmental impact analyses. In that year, Congress also designated nearly 200,000 acres of land in twelve states as federal wilderness areas. These early efforts set the stage for numerous legislative victories in the years that followed, including: • Passage of the Clean Water Act (1972) Unlike so many other federally legislated holidays, Earth Day encapsulated a new, fundamental understanding of our relationship to our planet and its resources. In the past, Congress had dedicated dates to watershed events, historical figures, relatives and occupations, and even fictitious characters. But never before had Congress recognized an entity quite like the Earth, as concrete in its material essence as it is abstract in its enormity. Over the 30 years that followed the designation of Earth Day, Congress added some 85 million acres of land to the National Wilderness Preservation System, and now includes land in each of our 50 states. Earth Day’s Lost Legacy Sadly, the legacy of Earth Day has come under fire of late, thanks to an administration more interested in cronyism and short-term financial gain than in long-term environmental health. The issues now facing environmentalists run rampant, the highlights of which include the following: • Both the 108th and the 109th Congresses have stymied efforts to hold corporations liable for fuel additives MTBE and perchlorates into public water supplies. It’s all pretty bleak, isn’t it? But is the environmental cause obsolete? We think not! A Call to Activism Indeed, if anything, it’s time to step up the pressure. These environmental offenses can only continue as long as good citizens like us allow them. If you care at all about the course of our government’s policies on industry and the environment, you need to stand up and be counted. For starters, register to vote, then get out to the polls. Let your voice be heard on all levels, federal, state and local. Decide for yourself where your priorities lie, where the environment fits among your many concerns, and vote your conscience. Write, telephone, or send emails to your senator or representative, expressing your concerns, your disappointment, your anger. Beyond this, there are a number of organizations out there who serve the public by providing timely information on environmental issues, including late-breaking legislative and cabinet-level developments. Among our favorites are: • Grist Magazine: Environmental News and Commentary (www.grist.org) What’s more, you can sign up for regular email updates at the Grist, NRDC and OCA Web sites, and even take action on specific issues, through online petitions, automated email campaigns and telephone campaigns to your senators and representatives, and occasionally to our corporate leaders. So don’t just sit there and fume…get active! We’re sitting on a great planet here, so let’s do our part to preserve it for our children, and for their children in turn. Thanks for letting us rant. |
