The Naked Truth/Jamala Rogers
What’s Happening to Earth Day?
Most people outside the state don’t know that Earth Day was the brainchild of a Wisconsin state senator who became governor. Gaylord Nelson was an environmentalist before the term was ever coined and popularized. Nelson fought for protections against an emerging ecological crises that was accelerating with industrial expansion. I wonder what the pioneer ecologist would think about devolution of a mass movement that produced reform legislation and public awareness.
Earth Day was born on April 22, 1970. It was so successful that a bipartisan Congress passed several milestone bills such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Environmental Education Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Tens of millions of Americans across the country were motivated to take part in activities to save the planet. Soon came the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency whose name says it all. The agency and subsequent laws were what the country needed to protect us humans and other living things.
Along the way, insidious factors started to erode the potency of the movement, Earth Day and the laws that came with it. It wasn’t because Mother Earth was not in crisis; she most definitely is. Money and power seem to be winning.
Enemies of the environment began co-opting Earth Day by being financial sponsors. Corporations like Monsanto, McDonald’s, Raytheon Missile Systems, Shell Oil and others marred the true meaning of Earth Day, sparking criticisms and protests of the hallowed day. It’s hard to hold companies accountable who are funding your cause. It wasn’t long before pointed demands became catchy slogans.
EPA, once a trusted enforcer and protector of the environment, became the target of powerful lobbyists. The Center for Responsive Politics reported that nearly half of the trump administration political appointees to the EPA were tied to chemical and energy industries supposedly regulated by the agency.
We have legislators at the local, state and federal levels who could care less about people and the planet and more about profits. Trying to get their attention about living things has become a challenge. Add to that that pool are legislators who don’t believe in science, making it harder to pass laws that slow down the destruction of our ecosystem by corporations.
The influence of Earth Day is waning even as the U.S. rejoins the Paris Accords. This is the year to take a serious look at a new strategy for environmental protection. It’s time to prioritize science, human life and Mother Earth. Polluted air, food insecurity, deforestation, biodiversity loss, global warming, genetic engineering, fracking and other symptoms of an ecological crisis are smacking us in the face—begging for our attention and resolution. It’s time to make Earth Day relevant again.
