Saturday, April 22, is Earth Day, a holiday when Americans and humans all over the planet supposed to look at our environmental conditions and think about what we can do better for ourselves, our children and our descendants.
While there are no Earth Day events in Sedona, there are some that will be taking place outside our city, organized by those concerned about preserving our planet.
Red Rock State Park will be hosting its annual Earth Day Celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with live wildlife presentations featuring rescued owls, snakes and spiders, hikes, booths, games, prizes and kids’ crafts. RRSP’s community partners will explain how people can all take action to protect our planet.
The new Rancho Almasomos, at 10100 E. Waddell Road in Cornville, a biodynamic farm and sanctuary that we covered earlier this month, will offer family games, hayrides and tree-planting from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The town of Camp Verde and the Yavapai-Apache Nation will be hosting an Earth Day event and celebration on Saturday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Park, at Cliff Castle Casino, with a family fun walk, live entertainment, educational booths, a raffle, arts and crafts vendors and a free lunch.
The Earth Day movement began after Ohio’s heavily-polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969. It was the 13th time parts of the river had burned since 1868 due to the waste, sewage and pollution factories and industrial facilities had dumped into the river.
Time magazine featured photos of that blaze and photos from a bigger fire in 1952, which became iconic images of the danger humans posed to their own environment and helped organizers launch the first Earth Day in 1970.
Courtesy Time Magazine / AP Images
At the time, life in and around Lake Erie was dying, the Cuyahoga was devoid of fish and sewage plants, refineries, steel plants and paper mills threatened to choke off all life in the other Great Lakes.
The first Earth Day attracted an estimated 20 million people to celebrate the planet and dedicate our nation to conservation and environmental protection. Back then, dirty air, foul water and landscapes cluttered with trash made most Americans realize that 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 and were signed into law by President Richard Nixon. These included the Clean Air Act, the Water Quality Improvement Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
We can hope for new technologies and we’re together on greener power generation methods such as wind, solar, nuclear and, perhaps within our lifetime, even fusion power. Renewable power is becoming cheaper and easier to generate. New nuclear plant designs can generate power from nuclear “waste.”
However, reducing overall demand for resources and items — including their shipping materials and boxes — and getting developing countries to buy into environmental protections and improvements will do far more to improve our environment than simply getting Americans to telecommute or carpool on electric buses.
Most businesses want to be green. Integrating environmental protection into business plans 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, renewable products, less packaging waste, fair trade, sustainability or locally-produced items with a smaller carbon footprint.
For 40 years, Larson Newspapers has used recycled paper in our newspaper publications and biodegradable soy-based ink. 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 to be turned into other paper products. These sustainable practices reduce the volume of paper materials going into landfills and keep toxic chemicals out of the air and groundwater of our state and hometown.
My daughter came home this week to tell me she did a clean-up at school because that’s what Earth Day means: “You clean the Earth. Because it’s Earth Day.” She gets it, so it should be easy for the rest of us.
Earth Day aimed to last beyond one day in 1970. On Saturday, April 22, see what you can do to help save the planet.
