America´s commemoration of Earth Day can be globally significant
Surya B. Prasai
April 12, 2008
Since 1970, the United States has been commemorating Earth Day every year on April 22, the movement being the brain child of Senator Gaylord Nelson, who had long thought about finding a way out "to put the environment into the political 'limelight' once and for all." America actually celebrated two Earth Days, one held in March on the equinox, and the other on April 22, which is considered the real Earth Day. In fact, Earth Day has now spread from the U.S. to almost every other country of the world and is taken as a time to reflect on the environment that surrounds us and what we can do to show our care and love for Mother Earth. There are many innovative ways to celebrate Earth Day, but it starts within the family.
For instance in 2007, President George W. Bush helped commemorate Earth Day across America by calling from the White House for good stewardship of land and oceans. President Bush stated," As we observe Earth Day, we celebrate the rich blessings of our Nation's natural resources, and we renew our commitment to protecting our environment so we leave our children and grandchildren a flourishing land."
President Bush encouraged American families to be more involved in cooperative conservation, innovation, and new technologies. He recollected America´s strong efforts at environmental conservation, his administration´s support of clean energy and trying to curb harmful air pollutant levels by more than ten percent since 2001.
The U.S. has got a strong environmental record and the Environmental Protection Agency has been a catalyst in promoting strong environmental safety standards. As President Bush mentioned, "Millions more Americans are drinking cleaner, safer water. We have removed hazardous fuels from more than 19 million acres of federal land. We have created, restored, or protected more than 2.5 million acres of wetlands, and we have conserved almost 200 million of acres of habitat through Farm Bill conservation programs. And we are taking positive steps to confront the important challenge of climate change. Our work is not done. We also have a responsibility to pass on to future generations our commitment to the environment."
The U.S. President also called on Americans to ensure that future generations have a strong connection to nature, which would require working together to protect and conserve not only nationally significant natural wonders but also local parks, ponds, and working lands where parents and mentors can teach young people about the outdoors through recreational activities such as fishing, hunting, biking and nature watching. He also encouraged Americans of all ages to get involved in conservation-related volunteer activities.
In 2008, it is essential that Earth Day be celebrated as a model day in America´s environmental adventure to save the planet and for Americans to be conscientious and good stewards of the land and oceans.
Many activities that support Earth Day start at the backyard. It can involve planting trees to curb greenhouse gases and lessening the carbon dioxide levels, securing the soil and preventing erosion on hill slopes besides promoting local diversity. One can promote nature arts and crafts, by building a bird house or animal shelter, erecting bird feeders or water eco systems, and by providing shade for the animals to rest. Parents can teach their kids about the environment, do a joint project, be out in the wilderness for a day or two trying to identify four or five different kinds of plants, animals and fish species, and try understanding their natural habitat and how human beings endanger their lives, and on the other hand, how they can protect it.
Parents can also teach their kids how to reduce, recycle and reuse materials, how to dispose them off carefully, and to isolate toxic material from garden waste to promote organic farming. Local vegetable and farm producers can organize local markets and teach consumers on the value of buying local, so that less transportation, packaging and fuel is used.
There is so much more to do, such as writing creative articles, environmental poetry and earth songs, sharing them in a group or the local media and trying to have a discussion focusing on the environment. One can even help promote an Earth Day fair, and try to sell and exchange environmentally safe and friendly material, food, vegetables, and display environment related skits, drama, songs, and true life conservation simulations. Thus, engaging others in conversation and deep thinking about the environment before and after Earth Day is important.
There is a saying that the future is not somewhere we are going. It is something we are creating. Every day we do things that make some futures more probable and others less likely, these are all shaped by our human act and thinking. The Power of Environmentally Safe Thinking and to Act as One is required amongst us all on Earth Day, grasping it as an opportunity to remind the global society on the need to manage our resources directly e.g. the rain forests, the river water that flows closest to our village, town or city, the forest lands, national parks, the tilled or barren land, energy whether it is produced using hydro electricity, kerosene or diesel; and, natural resources such as the role of forest wood, leaves and coal. Earth Day is also a day to remember the problems that arise from the unbalanced management of resources; conflicts of interest or conflicts over resources, resource management-induced disasters and how communities can respond to them promptly to retain the eco-system´s balance.
In the U.S., there is already rising environmental consciousness, especially among the younger generation. At the household level, a lot is already being done in infusing environment friendly thinking. According to Jim Hacker, a well known American environmental writer, who has written and collected interesting material on America´s daily environmental savings, the people of the United States represent less than 5 percent of the world´s population, but consume 24% of the planet´s resources. He believes, if the rest of the world rose to the U.S. level of consumption, four additional planets would be needed to supply the resources and absorb the waste. Hacker believes though, America can level off without living "off the grid".
On Earth Day, if thermostats in every American household were lowered 1 degree Fahrenheit, the nation would save 230 million barrels of crude oil—enough to fill an oil tanker 400 times, the amount that´s coming in from Iraq every year. If 40 million Americans on average living in two American states, were to spend 1 minute less each day in the shower over their lifetimes, they would save 4 trillion gallons of water—the total amount of snow and rain that falls over the entire lower 48 United States in a day. One hour of using a gas-operated leaf blower could produce the same amount of greenhouse gases as a car drive 4,400 miles—that´s a round trip from Salt Lake City to New York City.
Similarly if every newspaper reader in the U.S. recycled a Sunday paper, it could create 212 million pounds of cellulose insulation, enough to insulate 118,767 Habitat for Humanity houses, twice as many built so far in the U.S. The greatest plus point? If every American household turned off the lights for one hour on Earth Day, it would prevent more than 16,610 tons of carbon dioxide from being released.
As Americans and global citizens share the Earth Day concept to rejuvenate their environmental thinking, it is pertinent to remind ourselves on President George W. Bush´s statement on September 28, 2007 on the correct use of U.S. alternate energy security and promoting renewable and lighter energy resource use. President Bush had mentioned, "Energy security and climate change are two of the great challenges of our time. The United States takes these challenges seriously. The world's response will help shape the future of the global economy and the condition of our environment for future generations. We represent the world's major economies, we are major users of energy, and we have the resources and knowledge base to develop clean energy technologies."
America´s guiding principle in commemorating Earth Day must also be to lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and it must be done in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people.
Earth Day is also a good way to combat global warming which is already disrupting millions of lives daily in the forms of destructive weather patterns and loss of habitat. What is happening might be characterized as the tip of an iceberg, since rising temperatures could bring physical turmoil to our children and grandchildren who will suffer the greatest impact from global warming. Hundreds of millions of people will be exposed to famine, water shortages, extreme weather conditions and a 20 - 30% loss of animal and plant species if we don't reduce the rate of global warming and reduce GHG emissions.
Therefore, Earth Day is also a definite way to combat global warming by spreading the message that Americans care about the world environment, not just America, but the rest of the world.
For instance in 2007, President George W. Bush helped commemorate Earth Day across America by calling from the White House for good stewardship of land and oceans. President Bush stated," As we observe Earth Day, we celebrate the rich blessings of our Nation's natural resources, and we renew our commitment to protecting our environment so we leave our children and grandchildren a flourishing land."
President Bush encouraged American families to be more involved in cooperative conservation, innovation, and new technologies. He recollected America´s strong efforts at environmental conservation, his administration´s support of clean energy and trying to curb harmful air pollutant levels by more than ten percent since 2001.
The U.S. has got a strong environmental record and the Environmental Protection Agency has been a catalyst in promoting strong environmental safety standards. As President Bush mentioned, "Millions more Americans are drinking cleaner, safer water. We have removed hazardous fuels from more than 19 million acres of federal land. We have created, restored, or protected more than 2.5 million acres of wetlands, and we have conserved almost 200 million of acres of habitat through Farm Bill conservation programs. And we are taking positive steps to confront the important challenge of climate change. Our work is not done. We also have a responsibility to pass on to future generations our commitment to the environment."
The U.S. President also called on Americans to ensure that future generations have a strong connection to nature, which would require working together to protect and conserve not only nationally significant natural wonders but also local parks, ponds, and working lands where parents and mentors can teach young people about the outdoors through recreational activities such as fishing, hunting, biking and nature watching. He also encouraged Americans of all ages to get involved in conservation-related volunteer activities.
In 2008, it is essential that Earth Day be celebrated as a model day in America´s environmental adventure to save the planet and for Americans to be conscientious and good stewards of the land and oceans.
Many activities that support Earth Day start at the backyard. It can involve planting trees to curb greenhouse gases and lessening the carbon dioxide levels, securing the soil and preventing erosion on hill slopes besides promoting local diversity. One can promote nature arts and crafts, by building a bird house or animal shelter, erecting bird feeders or water eco systems, and by providing shade for the animals to rest. Parents can teach their kids about the environment, do a joint project, be out in the wilderness for a day or two trying to identify four or five different kinds of plants, animals and fish species, and try understanding their natural habitat and how human beings endanger their lives, and on the other hand, how they can protect it.
Parents can also teach their kids how to reduce, recycle and reuse materials, how to dispose them off carefully, and to isolate toxic material from garden waste to promote organic farming. Local vegetable and farm producers can organize local markets and teach consumers on the value of buying local, so that less transportation, packaging and fuel is used.
There is so much more to do, such as writing creative articles, environmental poetry and earth songs, sharing them in a group or the local media and trying to have a discussion focusing on the environment. One can even help promote an Earth Day fair, and try to sell and exchange environmentally safe and friendly material, food, vegetables, and display environment related skits, drama, songs, and true life conservation simulations. Thus, engaging others in conversation and deep thinking about the environment before and after Earth Day is important.
There is a saying that the future is not somewhere we are going. It is something we are creating. Every day we do things that make some futures more probable and others less likely, these are all shaped by our human act and thinking. The Power of Environmentally Safe Thinking and to Act as One is required amongst us all on Earth Day, grasping it as an opportunity to remind the global society on the need to manage our resources directly e.g. the rain forests, the river water that flows closest to our village, town or city, the forest lands, national parks, the tilled or barren land, energy whether it is produced using hydro electricity, kerosene or diesel; and, natural resources such as the role of forest wood, leaves and coal. Earth Day is also a day to remember the problems that arise from the unbalanced management of resources; conflicts of interest or conflicts over resources, resource management-induced disasters and how communities can respond to them promptly to retain the eco-system´s balance.
In the U.S., there is already rising environmental consciousness, especially among the younger generation. At the household level, a lot is already being done in infusing environment friendly thinking. According to Jim Hacker, a well known American environmental writer, who has written and collected interesting material on America´s daily environmental savings, the people of the United States represent less than 5 percent of the world´s population, but consume 24% of the planet´s resources. He believes, if the rest of the world rose to the U.S. level of consumption, four additional planets would be needed to supply the resources and absorb the waste. Hacker believes though, America can level off without living "off the grid".
On Earth Day, if thermostats in every American household were lowered 1 degree Fahrenheit, the nation would save 230 million barrels of crude oil—enough to fill an oil tanker 400 times, the amount that´s coming in from Iraq every year. If 40 million Americans on average living in two American states, were to spend 1 minute less each day in the shower over their lifetimes, they would save 4 trillion gallons of water—the total amount of snow and rain that falls over the entire lower 48 United States in a day. One hour of using a gas-operated leaf blower could produce the same amount of greenhouse gases as a car drive 4,400 miles—that´s a round trip from Salt Lake City to New York City.
Similarly if every newspaper reader in the U.S. recycled a Sunday paper, it could create 212 million pounds of cellulose insulation, enough to insulate 118,767 Habitat for Humanity houses, twice as many built so far in the U.S. The greatest plus point? If every American household turned off the lights for one hour on Earth Day, it would prevent more than 16,610 tons of carbon dioxide from being released.
As Americans and global citizens share the Earth Day concept to rejuvenate their environmental thinking, it is pertinent to remind ourselves on President George W. Bush´s statement on September 28, 2007 on the correct use of U.S. alternate energy security and promoting renewable and lighter energy resource use. President Bush had mentioned, "Energy security and climate change are two of the great challenges of our time. The United States takes these challenges seriously. The world's response will help shape the future of the global economy and the condition of our environment for future generations. We represent the world's major economies, we are major users of energy, and we have the resources and knowledge base to develop clean energy technologies."
America´s guiding principle in commemorating Earth Day must also be to lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and it must be done in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people.
Earth Day is also a good way to combat global warming which is already disrupting millions of lives daily in the forms of destructive weather patterns and loss of habitat. What is happening might be characterized as the tip of an iceberg, since rising temperatures could bring physical turmoil to our children and grandchildren who will suffer the greatest impact from global warming. Hundreds of millions of people will be exposed to famine, water shortages, extreme weather conditions and a 20 - 30% loss of animal and plant species if we don't reduce the rate of global warming and reduce GHG emissions.
Therefore, Earth Day is also a definite way to combat global warming by spreading the message that Americans care about the world environment, not just America, but the rest of the world.
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