The history of Earth Day began in Santa Barbara in early 1969, when an oil platform six miles offshore of the idyllic beach town on the central coast of California blew out, spewing some 100,000 barrels of crude into the Pacific. It was the largest oil spill in US history at the time (today it is the third-largest), and catalyzed the modern environmental movement.
Over the next year, Gaylord Nelson, a US senator from Wisconsin, marshaled the personnel, resources, and political capital to create what the politician called a “national teach-in on the environment.” The first Earth Day was held on April 1970, and its impact on public education and policy was tremendous.
Millions of Americans took to the streets to demand environmental improvements and, according to Earth Day Network, “by the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.” Those laws remain the bedrock of environmental regulation today.
TVNL Comment: Today is Earth Day. Does anyone really care any more? Does it matter that Scott Pruitt has used his power in the EPA to deregulate industries that continue to contribute to the destruction of the planet? Does it matter that Donald Trump refuses to acknowledge climate change as a major threat to us all? Does it matter that the EPA has changed course and now allows pesticides that are once again killing people? Does anything matter other than greed and profit? Just asking.
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