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| Florida's Gilchrist Blue Spring Photo: Phillipo Lott |
A half-century ago, on April 22, 1970, Earth Day erupted into the national consciousness, bringing unprecedented attention to the importance of protecting the planet that sustains us. More than just a one-day demonstration, that first Earth Day awakened a sense of urgency about the health of our environment and ignited a demand for change that altered the course of history.
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Earth Day changed the world. It motivated political leaders across the spectrum to work together to pass 28 critical environmental laws in the decade that followed, including The Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act, and The Endangered Species Act. These landmark laws inspired other nations to take similar steps to address their environmental problems. Earth Day is now observed globally by more than a billion people in 193 countries each year.
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| Washington's Hoh Rainforest Photo: Phillip Lott |
This year, the celebrations and protests will be muted due to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the earth. The pandemic has given the earth a temporary reprieve from human activity. The clean air, the mountain views, the lack of industrial pollution alone will make this Earth Day something unique.
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| Kayaking in Florida Photo: Phillip Lott |
While substantial progress has been made since 1970, assaults on the hard-won environmental laws protection our air, water, wildlife and land have escalated. In Washington there is currently an administration that finds science anathema to its core agenda. In addition, humanity is challenged to confront the new crises of climate change and accelerating species loss which will resume unabated as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic abates.
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| Tjörneshreppur Iceland Photo: Phillip Lott |
This year, even as we battle SARS-CoV-2 environmental laws are under assault by an ignorant and misguided Republican Party. More than ever it is important that we celebrate Earth Day and plan for the end of the current administration in Washington. It will take years to correct the environmental mistakes of the current administration, but we must not lose focus or hope.
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| Kayaking Florida's Wekiva River Photo: Phillip Lott |
We must continue to demand transitioning away from extraction of coal, oil and natural gas on public lands in favor of renewable energy, we can reduce national greenhouse gas emissions (the prime driver of climate change) by more than 20%. In addition, public lands have the potential to be an essential safeguard against the worst impacts of these crises because they provide both vital habitat in which wildlife and natural systems can thrive, and most critically, they contain some of the most productive carbon-trapping forests on earth.
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| Johnson Springs, Florida Photo: Phillip Lott |
First, we must forget this year's Earth Day theme which is Climate Action and focus on defeating the Trump Administration in November. The only way to protect the earth for future generations will be to remove conservatives from power as soon as possible.
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| The Dead River Sink, Florida Photo: Phillip Lott |
Planetary Health:
Many researchers today that that humanity's destruction of biodiversity creates the conditions for new viruses and disease such as COVID-19, to arise—with profound health and economic impacts in rich and poor countries alike. In fact, a new discipline, planetary health, is emerging that focuses on the increasingly visible connections between the wellbeing of humans, other living things and entire ecosystems.
Is it so hard to imagine that it was human activity, such as road building, mining, hunting and logging, that triggered the HIV Pandemic, SARS, and Ebola epidemics and that is releasing new terrors today?
We infade tropical forests and other wild landscapes which harbour so many species of animals and plants, and within those creatures exist so many unknown viruses. We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it, writes David Quammen, author of SPILLOVER: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic.
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