04/22/24 - 117 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/9bh4zbtr
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Earth Day At 40- Earth Day: Past, Present And Future
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This year we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, the nationwide teach-in that kick-started many of the major environmental programs we have today. In this section each week the PA Environment Digest will highlight upcoming Earth Day events. Submit your events for this page to: DHess@CrisciAssociates.com.
PA Environmental Heritage
Did you know William Penn enacted the first Pennsylvania environmental law by giving instructions for laying Philadelphia saying one acre of forest was to be preserved for every five acres of land cleared? The instructions included the first parks as well.
When Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 it was covered with nearly an unbroken forest from border to border.
Check out DEP's Environmental Heritage Timeline for more on our history.
Earth Day: Past, Present And Future
By Dee Ross, Watershed Program Coordinator
Partnership For The Delaware Estuary
In 1962, Sen. Gaylord Nelson was dismayed by thestate of the environment. Polluted air caused fatalities in big cities, rivers inundated with oil slicks caught on fire, entire species were disappearing, and trash covered the ground. Nelson realized that the public was becoming increasingly concerned with the environment, but the issue was nowhere to be found on any political agenda.
After several unsuccessful years of trying to convince fellow politicians that there would be great public support for environmental policies, Nelson found inspiration in the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations of the late ’60s. Focusing on the combination of public concern and established student energy, he set out to organize protests to force the environment into the political forefront.
At a September 1969 conference in Seattle, Nelson announced that there would be a national demonstration for the environment the following spring. The news spread, picked up by TV networks and major newspapers.
Only a few short months later, Nelson, with his tiny staff of volunteers and minimally paid appointees, accomplished the seemingly impossible: the first Earth Day, which took place on April 22, 1970.
Addressing thousands that day in Washington, D.C., Nelson declared that Earth Day was a beginning, not an end in itself. He said, “If the environment is a fad, it is going to be our last fad.”
Over 20 million Americans participated in organized, peaceful rallies in both big cities and small towns, proving that they did in fact care about the environment, and that they expected government to do the same. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was created shortly thereafter, and the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts soon followed.
A public-opinion poll in May 1971 showed that 25% of Americans felt that protecting the environment was an important goal-- a 2,500 percent increase over the same question asked in 1969!
Thirty-eight years after the first Earth Day, a 2008 Pew Research Center poll showed that 56 percent of Americans supported making environmental protection a top priority.
In 2009 that support dropped to 41 percent as Americans turned their focus to the immediate needs of strengthening the economy and increasing the energy supply. This year, as Congress struggles with healthcare reform and economic stimuli, let Earth Day remind us that we cannot have a robust economy and a healthy population without a sustaining environment that includes clean air and water.
After 40 years, Earth Day celebrations continue to serve as fun and friendly reminders that there is in fact plenty that we can do as individuals while we support and encourage our political leaders to do the same.
The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and the City of Wilmington, for example, celebrate Earth Day each year at a lunch-time festival in Rodney Square. Thousands of participants visit eco-friendly exhibitors to learn how they can make a difference by choosing Energy Star appliances and items made of recycled materials, using longer-life, compact-flourescent light bulbs, replacing plastic shopping bags with reusable cloth totes, and reducing chemical use at home.
Simple changes like these can make every day an Earth Day of sorts, preserving and protecting our life-sustaining environment and continuing the positive progress that began on April 22, 1970.
Reprinted from Estuary News, Partnership For the Delaware Estuary |
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3/15/2010 |
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