Thursday, April 21, 2016

THE HISTORY OF EARTH DAY


Tomorrow, April 22 , will mark the 46th anniversary of Earth Day. Although I’ve not participated in marches, I’ve been very engaged simply by recycling, reusing and being as frugal as possible to save our earth. The first recycling center that came to our county was over ten miles away, and I took everything recyclable there at least once a month. Nothing went into my trash that could be recycled. I’ve been a lover of trees, the environment and almost all critters that live on our Earth, skipping mosquitoes, deer flies, and house flies.

Much of the following information I got from (http://www.earthday.org) .


In 1962 Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring was published. It sold more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries, and began raising public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and links between pollution and public health. I remember reading it, and it resonated with me. Probably somewhere among my many, many books I still have a copy. At that time, mainstream America still remained oblivious to the problems our earth faced.




In the year 1970, during the height of counterculture in the United States, there was the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” War raged in Vietnam and students nationwide overwhelming opposed it.





Meanwhile, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. (I admit with four children, I drove a station wagon.) Industries belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was not a word often heard.

Then along came the environmental movement in 1970, and Earth Day created an emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns on the front page.

The idea for a national day to focus on environment came to Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he figured if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson got the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes from Harvard as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land. April 22, falling between spring break and final exams, was selected as the date.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. By the end of year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. “It was a gamble,” Gaylord recalled, “but it worked.”

As 1990 approached, another big campaign started. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide. In 1995 President Bill Clinton awarded Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest honor given to civilians in the United States – for his role as Earth Day Founder.

On Earth Day 2000, because of the internet, activists celebrated it around the world. In Gabon, Africa, a drum chain traveled from village to village, and on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. hundreds of thousands of people gathered for a First Amendment Rally, and sent world leaders the loud and clear message that citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on global warming and clean energy.



On Earth Day 2010, 250,000 people showed up on the National Mall for a Climate Rally, launching the largest environmental service project – A Billion Acts of Green – introduced a global tree planting initiative that has since grown into The Canopy Project with 22,000 partners in 192 countries observing Earth Day.





Although you can't see them, bees are swarming on my pussy willow 
So what about today? There are still climate change deniers in spite of well documented facts by scientists. And then there are the well-funded-oil lobbyists, who fight any changes in the laws, and unfortunately, there are still people who aren’t interested. They don’t recycle, and they drive huge gas guzzlers. I realize some people need a pickup truck or a larger car because of the size of their family or their business, etc.  As for me, I’ve driven a small car for over thirty years. I not only recycle, but I wash my bottles and cans before taking them to recycling. Things I want to get rid of that can’t go to the recycling center like clothes, etc. go to Good Will or the Church Mouse. I compost all waste the chickens won’t eat, except for bones. I don’t want my dog getting a chicken bone. I feed the birds, I don’t use insecticides to kill insects, birds take care of most of them, and only spray weed killer on poison ivy that is too thick for me to pull with my hand in a bread bag, and I plant trees even though I already have trees. I also donate to different environmental organizations.

What do you do to help our Earth?

Do you believe in climate change?



10 comments:

  1. We recycle whatever we can. In my northern home, I generate most of my electricity through solar panels. I’d do it down south as well, except that between condo community covenants (which I might be able to get changed) and state laws (which I can’t change) it is economically not feasible.

    And yes, I do believe the climate is warming up and that humans are contributing to it. My view is that if we go through the expense of changing our ways of living so as to diminish human effect on global warming and I am wrong, we've wasted a lot of money that could have been better spent. However, if the deniers of client change win and they are wrong, much of the planet will be changed in devastating ways. The result will be massive species loss, huge loss of human life and desegregation of living conditions for those who do survive, and exponentially more expense to try (too late) to ameliorate the damage.

    ~ Jim

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  2. I do not believe there are any reputable scientists who deny climate change is happening and people are the cause of it.

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  3. Jim, I've thought of adding solar panels to my house, but I have huge pine trees on the south side of my house, and I don't want to cut them down because they keep my house cool in the summer, and because I love trees. I agree with all you say.

    I agree with you Warren. I think the climate change deniers are not well-read or don't want
    to admit they have any part of the problem.

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  4. On the first Earth Day I slept over a friend's house, then we biked 15 miles to and from school on a bicycle built for two. My parents decided that I had to come home that night instead of staying over again as we had planned (who knows why parents decide things, especially when you are 17 years old) and I refused to drive. It was Earth Day. My mother hit a parked car on the way home. No injuries except to the cars. Karma always wins!

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  5. Kait, that's an interesting story. I love it. :-)

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  6. Happy Earth Day! doing my thing, bit by bit: recycling, not driving 3 days a week, minimal fertilizer and pesticide usage, lots of bee and butterfly nurturing herbs and flowers.

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  7. Hi Gloria,
    I definitely believe that the way we humans are living is affecting our earth. The little I do - recycling, trying not to waste, supporting our parks - isn't enough. It's good to see all the young people who are so mindful of growing their own food and living in harmony with nature.

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  8. Good for you, Margaret. I wish more people did their bit like you are.

    Shari, I think younger people are more mindful because of the teachers who are teaching the
    importance of caring for our planet. I know I did as a teacher, and I think many teachers still are.

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  9. Gloria, I think you're right that many people are trying to teach our children to be more respectful of the earth. I know we have a long ways to go, but we've turned the corner on some things (London used to be so smoggy, due to coal fires in individual apartments, that the sun never reached the ground some places. Kind of like some areas of China now.) I can remember that getting your infants and children "fresh air" was so important that people bundled up their babies and put them to nap outside, even in very cold weather. And bedroom windows were always open a bit, since the indoor air was so stale. It may not be everything, but when was the last time you went into a smokey bar or pool room?

    When I was teaching, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation provided lots of materials for class projects. My classes raised bay grasses, and we took a field trip to plant them in shallow areas where they had been depleted.

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  10. That's great, KM. As a whole the last few years I was teaching, it was a group project with all the grades.

    Pittsburgh, is another city that has made great strides in cleaning up it's air pollution. It's now on the list of best cities to live in.

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