The Shadow
Influenced by Rachael Carson’s book, “Silent Spring,” which was published in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson has been credited for creating “Earth Day” which was first celebrated on April 22, 1970.
Nelson, who also served as Governor of Wisconsin, was instrumental in the U.S. Congress in getting the bill passed that created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Dec. of 1970, following 20 million Americans taking part in the first “Earth Day” he created.
Before then, no EPA, no “Clean Water Act” and no “Clean Air Act” existed.
Nelson, a Democrat, was an environmentalist, and he spearheaded the movement to create the 1st Wild and Scenic River, the St. Croix River that flows between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Friday will be the 52nd “Earth Day,” and the official theme is “Invest In Our Planet.”
Activities that the worldwide “Earth Day” movement organizers advocate to participate in on “Earth Day” are as follows: pick up litter, plant herb gardens, plant trees, participate in group protests against pollution and work to reduce greenhouse gasses by influencing others to use green energy.
The 5th Exponential Climate Action Summit will be held on “Earth Day” to explore the role of nature in the race to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the world’s dependency on fossil fuels. The leaders working along with others in conjunction with the Paris Accord hope to reduce greenhouse admissions by one-third by 2030.
The ultimate goal of zero greenhouse emissions has been set for 2050.
Ironically, the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, rendering “Earth Day” in Ukraine a meaningless day in terms of the pollution of the Earth by Russian missiles, artillery shells, tank barrages, and aircraft pounding Ukrainian towns and cities along the eastern border in the Donbas region that Russia continues attacking full force.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the northeast, east, and southeast that was launched on Feb. 24, the question arises, “How much pollution has the war contributed to the Earth?”
The word, “Earth,” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word, erda, and the Germanic word, erde’ that means the ground or soil.
How much of the Earth has been polluted from bombs, missiles, exploding tanks, crashed helicopters, burst sewage lines, blown up buildings set fire, and a hundred other sources of pollution?
“Earth Day” protests against the Russians may bring the problem into better focus, but the reality of the situation is that bombs continue to fall, people die and Russia continues its genocidal attack upon the Ukrainian people with total disregard for the 2022 “Earth Day” theme, “Invest In Our Planet.”
