Earth Day

[MichaelC]

More at Urban Tulsa

quote:April 22, 1970. Demonstrations in the streets, distrust of the older generation, anti-war protests, cries of impeachment being shouted at an increasingly unpopular President, social activists raging over how we treat the sexes, women's rights groups demanding equality—doesn't sound too much different from today.

This was the era when the ecology and environmental movements were born and raised as we celebrate the 36th birthday of Earth Day. But just like history repeating itself, is the world doomed to neglect as the environment seems to be an issue placed squarely on the back burner by most.
Have we made any progress in 36 years?

Back then, it was the most unlikely of Presidents, Richard Nixon, who created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a mission to protect the environment and public health; later Congress amends the Clean Air Act to set national air quality, auto emission and anti-pollution standards.
Since then, countless millions of Americans have worked toward and preached and raised children to respect and protect the environment. But what good has it done?

Has all this attention to the environment helped? Fast forward to 2004–the second most unlikely President to care for the environment, George W. Bush proposed the Clean Air Rules of 2004 to help make people healthier and will ensure clean air for the future.

The EPA required cleaner fuels and engines for off-road diesel machinery such as farm or construction equipment, and just last year, the EPA issues the Clean Air Interstate Rule (to reduce air pollution that moves across state boundaries) and the Clean Air Mercury Rule (to permanently cap and reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants for the first time ever).

So the effort continues.

This, coupled with the efforts toward reducing the U.S.'s total waste generation of 236 tons each year (before recycling), the U.S. appears to be making progress on a national front.

But what are private individuals doing to adjust their personal lifestyles to change? According to the EPA recent stats, in 2003, here is where the waste lies: 35.2% paper; 12.1% yard trimmings; 11.7% food scraps; 11.3% plastics; 8.0% metals; 7.4% rubber, leather and textiles; 5.3% glass; 5.8% wood and 3.4% other.