Earth Day - Past and Present

The only thing wrong with celebrating April 22 as Earth Day is that every day should be Earth Day. Unless the leaders of the world’s industrialized countries change their policies, unless the citizens of these countries change their habits, many scientists warn, the earth will be permanently damaged, if not become totally uninhabitable.

The origin and history of Earth Day provide some good news. On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was held, “one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy,” proclaimed American Heritage Magazine, and it has been held ever since.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, discussed its origin in an essay. The idea for Earth Day actually evolved over a period of seven years, starting in 1962, when the senator convinced President Kennedy to go on a national conservation tour. Even though the tour did not succeed in putting the issue on the national political agenda, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately
flowered into Earth Day. Nelson continued to speak on environmental issues to a
variety of audiences across the country throughout the decade. People were
concerned, but politicians were not. In 1969, Nelson organized a huge
grassroots protest over the degradation of the environment. The response was
tremendous from coast to coast. “The American people had a forum to express
their concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air,”
wrote Nelson. “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the
grassroots level. The remarkable thing about it was that Earth Day organized
itself.”

Another pioneer at that time was Rachel Carson, whose 1962 book Silent Spring is “credited with launching environmentalism in the Western hemisphere” because it “inspired widespread public concern with pesticides and pollution of the environment.” In her book, based on the research of many scientists, Carson contended that the indiscriminate spraying of pesticides would harm birds (the book’s title referred to a spring in which no birds would be singing), fish, and animals, including humans. A presidential commission confirmed Carson’s claims, which resulted in the banning of the pesticide DDT in 1972. Silent Spring inspired a generation of environmental activists.

Of course, there is always some bad news. Global warming threatens to change the face of the planet before the end of this century. That’s the major thesis of An Inconvenient Truth by former Vice-president Al Gore and of a recent 20/20 program on ABC television. Both are supported by scientific evidence. Whathappens to the water on this planet determines what happens to
all life, and the water has been getting warmer for decades. Warming of the
oceans causes them to expand and cover land masses. Coastal areas would thus
become uninhabitable, causing millions of “climate refugees,” to move inland.
The main cause of global warming is greenhouse gases, caused by auto emissions
of carbon dioxide.

Botht the book and the TV documentary propose changes in the lifestyle of ordinary citizens to help reverse this dangerous trend, even if world leaders do
nothing. Americans must take the lead, because our 5% of the world’s population
consumes 25% of the world’s energy. The single biggest thing we can do is to
use less gasoline, which means driving less and using more fuel-efficient cars.
Driving just 20 miles less a week would eliminate about 1,000 pounds of
greenhouse gas a year. We should take reusable cloth bags to the grocery store,
because plastic bags end up in landfills, taking centuries to decompose. We
should use recycled paper bags and paper towels to reduce the number of trees
destroyed each year. We waste water in this country in various ways: in the
shower, brushing teeth, and watering lawns, for example. Energy inefficiency is
equally costly; replacing one light bulb in your home with a “compact
florescent lamp bulb” is the equivalent of keeping two million cars off the
road.

What Rachel Carson wrote over forty years ago is still true today: “We in this generation must come to terms with nature; we are challenged as never before to prove our maturity not of nature but of ourselves.”

Local events to commemorate Earth Day 2012 include:

Party for the Planet at Beardsley Zoo (Bridgeport), April 21-22, 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. – Shop for green cleaning products and recycled fashion accessories to
better care for your lawn and wildlife while enjoying live music performances
by the Mudpuppies and The Environmental Hootenanny.

“Eco Man” Reveals the Power of Green (Norwalk), April 22,
11 a.m. to noon – The Attainable Sustainable Energy Show at the Stepping
Stones Museum in Norwalk will feature gripping experiments and visual effects
to transform wind and solar energy into usable green power.

Mystic Aquarium Honors Planet Earth (Mystic), April 22, 11
a.m. to 3 p.m. – A day for the whole family - enjoy creative hands-on
activities, games, scavenger hunts and crafts designed to teach people about
the sustainability of our planet.