It took a spark to begin the Earth Day movement — literally, after Ohio’s heavily-polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969. It was actually the 13th time parts of the river had burned since 1868 due to the waste, sewage and pollution factories dumped into the river.
Time magazine featured photos from the fire, which became iconic images about the danger humans posed to our environment and helped organizers launch the first Earth Day in 1970. At the time, life in and around Lake Erie was dying and sewage plants, refineries, steel plants and paper mills threatened the choke off all the other Great Lakes.
The first Earth Day attracted an estimated 20 million to celebrate and dedicate our nation to conservation and environmental protection. Back then, dirty air, foul water and landscapes cluttered with trash made most Americans realize public health — and the quality of life their children would inherit — was in serious jeopardy.
A variety of environmental laws made their way out of Congress in 1970 following the first Earth Day: The Clean Air Act, Water Quality Improvement Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, Occupational Safety and Health Act, Endangered Species Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
During the last 50 years, the nation has gradually learned that protecting public health and the environment reduces disease and improves quality of life. Thanks to this effort, the United States is a far better country to live in.
We’ve learned that polluting industries can clean up their own pollution in a cost-effective way and that protecting the environment doesn’t mean sacrificing the country’s economic progress. On the contrary, economic progress may actually depend on the clean environment our laws now mandate. A healthy population wastes less on short-term and long-term medical treatment and contributes more to nationwide workforce.
Five years ago, the Pentagon published its “Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap” to ensure mission readiness in the face of rising seas, more commonly occurring natural disasters that could result in food and water shortages in the developing world. The U.S. military is also preparing to cope with increasing droughts and climate problems that could force refugee movements and humanitarian crises, both of which could lead to political instability, especially in impoverished nations.
The Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, has invested in geoengineering projects to protect some of its islands while planning to relocate populations from low-lying atolls most threatened by rising seas to other islands and is building infrastructure prior to those moves.
Environmental concerns will become major talking points in future American elections and some candidates for president in 2020 have made climate change issues the keystone of their platforms. We are likely to see more campaigns focus on these issues as we move through the 21st century.
Most businesses want to be green. Integrating environmental protection into business plans from the outset pays dividends, especially in terms of energy cost savings, but also in terms of the goodwill such policies generate with customers. Business adapt to what customers want, be it healthier foods, greener products or locally-produced items with smaller carbon footprint. The strength of the green movement isn’t just in protests, activism and legislation, but in the small green paper rectangles we trade for goods and services.
For over 30 years, Larson Newspapers has used recycled paper in our newspaper publications and biodegradable soy-based ink rather than synthetics in the printing process. Our publication process is recyclable and renewable.
Additionally, we recycle our wasted newsprint and old newspapers through bins provided by Sedona Recycles at our newsroom in Uptown. These sustainable practices reduce the volume of paper materials going into landfills and keep toxic chemicals out of air and groundwater of our state and hometown.
Earth Day events will engage more than a billion people in 192 countries Monday, April 22, but there’s still plenty more to do.
— Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
