Wednesday, April 22 marks the forty-fifth anniversary of Earth Day. In April of 1970, Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, was inspired by the student anti-war movements. He believed that he could incorporate the students’ energy with the increasing public consciousness of air and water pollution to create an organization powerful enough to make an impact.
The establishment of Earth Day had many positive implications. Because Nelson and his team had managed to compel Democrats and Republicans alike into action, The United States Environmental Protection Agency was consequently established and the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts soon followed and were passed.
In 1990, Earth Day became a global event; in 2000, global warming issues marked the agendas of Earth Day supporters; and in 2010, the Earth Day Network brought 225,000 people together at the National Mall for a Climate Rally.
“Discover energy you didn’t even know you had. Feel it rumble through the grassroots under your feet and the technology at your fingertips,” encourages the Earth Day Network. “Channel it into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for generations to come.
Maggie Stacy
Staff Writer
How do you help sustain the Earth? Is it important to practice sustainability?
Sara Sadri-Lonbani
Theatre Performance Major
“I like to plant. I like to garden. I’ve got a little garden at home in the back and it’s got flowers and mint and herbs, and that’s always very fun. I’ve always liked to compost. I don’t like to throw away plastics. . . You know, it’s a one-step process. There should be like a giant thing that circulates the water in the ocean and like takes all the trash out. . . unfortunately, we don’t have that. Recycling is a big process for most people and I think every little step counts.”
Kenneth Wooten
HVAC Major
“I mean, I try to recycle. When I dispose things I know can be recycled, I try to put them in the recycling bin. When I’m at home, we have a separate thing for recycling. . . I can’t say I think about it that much, but I think that if we don’t do it, it’s going to make a difference whether we do or don’t. When we just throw something on the ground or something like that, versus if we actually take the time to put it in the trash, you know, so things aren’t just lying around everywhere.”
Kathleen Moore
Art Major
“I do recycle, I help out on earth day, a lot of times with my church. We’ll go and we’ll plant trees at parks and help out with Adopt-a-Park, and so we’ve done that for several years. . . I mean, it’s our home, it’s where we live, it’s important that we take care of it. We need to take care of the place where we live we need to keep it beautiful for our future generations.”
Paige Cobos
Creative Writing Major
“I recycle tenfold, I have three recycle cans at my house and I do that quite actively. I also plant my own vegetables. I grow my own veggies and my own herbs, and my parents own a hybrid, so I use that when I can. I think it is very much a responsibility, a dire responsibility, given how things have really gotten out of control. In terms of our environment, we really need to step it up and make some serious changes to our policies, and just be more active in protecting the earth because it seems to only be getting worse and worse.”