By DB Reiff
The first Earth Day, on April 22 more than 50 years ago, was a big deal. Some 20-million people celebrated it at tens of thousands of sites, including schools, universities, and communities across the country. That 1970 Earth Day marked the birth of the modern environmental movement.
Until April 22, 1970, most Americans were unaware of how pollution threatened the environment, wildlife, and human health. The awareness that sparked that first Earth Day also generated a new era in United States history.
After the first Earth Day, Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air Act of 1970. By 1972 Congress passed the Clean Water Act and the EPA banned the chemical DDT. In 1973 the EPA confirmed that lead gasoline exhaust posed a threat to public health and by 1975 unleaded gasoline was widely available. In 1974 the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed and in 1982 the EPA announced a rule requiring all elementary and secondary schools buildings be tested for asbestos.
In 2022, with more than a billion people set to celebrate in 193 countries, celebrating Earth Day is still a big deal. Despite all the new regulations that followed the first Earth Day, environmental degradation has worsened. Pollution from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gasoline has caused the earth’s atmosphere to grow warmer. In fact, the past seven years have been the hottest in recorded history.
Record-breaking temperatures in the Arctic have caused what’s referred to as “permafrost” to thaw. This April, an ice shelf the size of New York City completely collapsed away from Antarctica. And waters in the Gulf of Maine averaged an all-time high in 2021, affecting ocean-life from lobsters to whales.
If anything, Earth Day is even more critical now than it was in 1970. But it’s not time to throw up our hands in defeat.
Here are three simple things that can make a difference.
1. Urge lawmakers to pass environmental bills and regulations.
2. Drive fewer miles and consider an electric car. NASA scientists have shown that air pollution levels dropped significantly during COVID-19.
3. Plant trees. Or if you can’t plant one, ask the City of Boston for a new sidewalk tree. Trees absorb and sequester many of the most harmful gasses in our atmosphere. By shading the earth from the hot sun they help keep temperatures down and humans more comfortable. And, just looking at trees has a calming effect on us.
And calm is something we all need – not just on Earth Day.