Green is the Goal
How We're Honoring Earth Day
April 22nd, 1970– a seemingly ordinary Wednesday, a “Hump Day” to many office workers. But for 20 million Americans, it was anything but ordinary. Picture it: a wave of citizens, from students to grandmothers, flooding streets and town squares, united in a call for environmental change. The first Earth Day. A day so monumental, the sheer volume of participants would have turned finding a parking spot into an epic side quest.
To succeed in life is a balance. To thrive in this life is a blend of growth in economics and harmonizing with the environment. To quote the Council of Environmental Quality’s tenth annual report: “The Environmental Revolution has altered our physical surroundings. Beyond that, it has produced remarkable changes in government, law, politics, and economics. It has reshaped many people’s philosophy of life and scale of values. In very practical terms, the Environmental revolution is lengthening lives and lessening human misery by reducing the poisons in our air, water, and soil.”
This day was filled with rallies, marches, and the organization of “teach-ins,” which were mini educational sections for the public for learning. The key point is that it was grassrooted in public outcry for an SOS on the planet.
With this shake, an avalanche of forces rose up from the United States in the law realm, including President Richard Nixon's creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act, to name a few of many others that were signed.
The purpose of Earth Day is a time of awareness. It urges people to be good stewards of the available resources. It went global in 1990, which encouraged other nations to adopt its mindset and act accordingly to improve their geographic regions. It was once thought that the oceans were not capable of facing deficits in fish catches, that the rate of consumption was slower than the rate of repopulation of stocks, and that the oceans were a boundless food supply for the world. Due to population growth and technological advancement with sonar, a different story unfolded.
What can you do to take part in and support the ideology of Earth Day? Well, where do we start: yourself, others, local, or even state-wide; the key is to find something that sparks interest and longing for change. It is often said that the climate problems are too massive and that we are too late to reverse the inevitable. Throwing in the towel is not an option. Starting small is the best for long-term momentum. The actions within your power:
● Donate old clothes/household goods to shelters and designated donation boxes around town
● Purchase a reusable water bottle
● Take part in only asking for emailed receipts when shopping
● Running a load of laundry on off-peak electrical hours
● Bringing your reusable bags while grocery shopping
● Support fair trade and sustainably sourced food/consumerism practices
We tend to zoom into our lives, instead of zooming out and seeing the larger picture, the larger goal, the larger impact. The old saying “I am but one person” is irrelevant in this day in age, where people can connect and reach far more because of social media. It is time to participate. It is time to show up for yourself and for the future humans who will live on Earth.
So what do we need to tackle? What are the bigger goals for reversing the damage to Mother Earth? It’s the task of reducing/eliminating negative climate change, improving pollution levels, forests, and habitat loss, and overall resource depletion. How can this be accomplished? Through sustainable practices (small and large), policy and advocacy on all levels, conservation, community involvement, and technology advancement work to our benefit.
If you thought the movie “Wall-E” was just a quaint Pixar film to watch with the kids, look again: it foreshadows what could be humanity’s reality.