Earth Day Plus 25 Years: Making A Real Difference

I vaguely remember Earth Day 1970 as one of a myriad of on-campus happenings that punctuated an era of rapid social change.

There were numerous causes in those days (e.g., the anti-war movement, Eastern mysticism) to distract a college student from the more traditional academic pursuits. Frankly, the first Earth Day didn’t register in my brain as much more than another distraction or perhaps an opportunity to leave the car home for a day (what a novel idea!), dust off the ol’ two-wheeler and feign environmental consciousness along with hundreds of peers amid chants of “Ecology Now!!!”

Many of the great movements start out small, seemingly insignificant and even a bit pretentious. As with the mustard seed, a time of nurturing and growth must elapse before we realize that, after all, we really had something there all along. Earth Day, specifically, and environmental consciousness, in general, may well fit this pattern of events.

When we compare our 1970 environment to that of 1995, the report card shows significant progress in managing and restoring the environmental media of air, water and land - especially in the urban environment where most of us live. I’ll emphasize the air medium as my prime illustration.

The past quarter century has seen major reductions in public exposure to the criteria pollutants (ozone, carbon monoxide, lead, etc.) both in terms of concentration of pollutant and number of days in which they exceeded health standards. Do we have Earth Day to thank for each breath of healthier air? Maybe yes and maybe no. Let’s look a little closer at how progress was achieved.

The most important factors in the urban air quality success story are the improvements to the internal combustion engine. The 1995 automobile puts out a small fraction of the hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides of its 1970s ancestor. The phasedown of lead and its impending elimination from gasoline, along with other changes to fuels, also played a big role.

These were obviously technological fixes and it’s only fair to point out that much of the clean air technology was already under development long before Earth Day ever appeared on anyone’s calendar. But are these advances unrelated to the chantings of a sea of cyclists on a spring day 25 years ago? Not entirely.

Social movements often determine the pace of change. The young, idealistic students of yesteryear became the middle-aged, pragmatic voters and consumers of today. Some became environmental activists as a result of that bike ride and subsequent bike rides. And some of them got elected or appointed to positions of power and influence where yesterday’s idealism became today’s politics.

A new ethic (a true environmental consciousness) drove public policy, which in turn drove the pace of technology, which in turn drove improvements in air quality.

Along the way, the Clean Air Act was born and the far-reaching amendments of 1977 and 1990 were adopted and implemented. It may be an unpopular saying in 1995, but thanks goes out in large portions to Big Government and its legions of bureaucrats for turning the tide of environmental degradation.

So, what does the future hold? Twenty-five years later, we appear on the cusp of a new era of personal responsibility, downsized government and redirection of power.

Are the same voices which now herald an end to the social programs of the Great Society also calling for environmental activism to be reined in and reversed? Or perhaps, by listening carefully, one can still hear that faint chant of “Ecology Now!”

Maybe there’s a blending of both voices that sounds a little discordant now, but will eventually find ways to make a new harmony.

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