Reflections on 50 Years of Earth Day
Washington County, Utah. Can you imagine a more beautiful place in which to appreciate what nature provides? I can’t. Can you imagine a place more worthy of our protection? Again, I cannot. But ours is not the only place worthy of our protection efforts, and even as we struggle with the health and economic effects of COVID-19, we must bolster ourselves for protecting what we find near and dear. Earthday 2020.
Fifty years ago, on the first Earth Day, people came together due to concerns about what was happening to their environment: pesticides, burning rivers, pollution pumped into the air and more. Today we still deal with some of the same issues and now have added plastic and climate change to the mix.
Earth Day is April 22, 2020, it’s the 50-year Anniversary worldwide celebration – planned as the largest event in history – has been postponed to sometime in October due to COVID-19. This pandemic should make us even more aware of the challenges that face our Earth. It should inspire us even more to take action!
When the first Earth Day was announced in late 1969 the news services picked it up and it took off like wildfire, giving concerned citizens a chance to rally and speak out. From LA to NYC thousands gathered on April 22, 1970, to hear speeches by leaders and songs sung by Pete Seeger and others. An estimated 20 million Americans flooded the streets. It was a party to help generate passion to save the Earth. Today we need more of that passion!!
Then, the Clean Air Act was passed with only one dissenting vote. Imagine that. Congress even went into recess for Earth Day so that members could speak to their constituents. The first Earth Day resulted in new laws to protect our environment, many of which are being challenged today, under the guise of necessity to help some of our nation’s polluters during this time of the pandemic.
In our little corner of the Earth, Conserve Southwest Utah, for the past 14 years has focused passion and energy to protect what’s important to our quality of life in Washington County: our land, water, and air. CSU was able to help stop a coal-fired plant from being built a mere thirty miles to the west. CSU has tracked and worked to bring reason to the Lake Powell Pipeline and Northern Corridor discussion by meeting with local and state leaders. Presentations have been made to local groups and to the governor’s Executive Water Finance Board.
Citizens are learning that the pipeline and a highway through our Red Cliffs National Conservation Area are not the only ways of providing water and dealing with traffic.
In January nearly 20,000 comments were submitted to the Bureau of Land Management and US Fish and Wildlife Service opposing the Northern Corridor highway through our Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, an area where residents and visitors refresh themselves in the midst of one of the fastest-growing areas in the U.S. One veteran with PTSD told them how much Red Cliffs helps to relieve his PTSD. What an amazing place to protect!
When the sun rose on the first Earth Day, the conservation movement was composed of white, affluent outdoors lovers but the vision that day was for something more – something multiracial, multi-generational, something for all. Conserve Southwest Utah and other conservation organizations are working to that end, working to draw in citizens of all persuasions to see the value of this land we love here and elsewhere in this great nation and pass that passion along to those who follow. We owe that to our children and grandchildren.
As Denis Hayes, national coordinator of the first Earth Day, stated at the D.C. rally, “If the environment is a fad, it will be our last fad.”
Lisa Rutherford, CSU Board Member.
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