It is said that the only “constant” in life is “change”. However, in the world of today, the only” constant” we seem to witness is the emerging threat of our extinction as a human race brought on by “conflict” rather than “change”.
I am not referring to the conflict between opposite cultures and religions, nor am I referring to the power-conflict between nations, governments and people fighting to secure their rights, their dignity and their homelands. What I am referring to instead is the irreversible and terminal effect of conflict created by modern man’s insatiable appetite for worldly goods — at the expense of our Earth.
Luckily for us, there is a solution in the making. As the world becomes more and more interconnected and as people become more and more informed, an environmentally responsible “global culture” is taking hold as people-of-the-world are putting pressure on businesses, industries and governments to carry out environmentally friendly and socially responsible practices. Whereas before such practices went about unregulated, unaccounted-for and unpunished, today, with the reality of global warming staring us in the face, that will hopefully become a thing of the past.
In two weeks time there is a powerful unifying force that is coming our way. On April 22 the whole world will observe an international event that was born over 37 years ago: Earth Day. Most of us know little about this event, and maybe some of us may not have even heard of it. The majority of people celebrate it on April 22 while others celebrate it on March 20 or 21, which depends on which day spring of that year falls. Whatever the date, the importance here is in the impact such an event has on how we choose to live responsibly in our fragile world.
Each year people around the world come together in their local communities to engage in activities that builds the base of support for environmental protection programs. These group activities rekindle public commitment and build community volunteerism through a wide range of events that aim to renew local and global commitment to preserving the bounties of our Earth by building a safer, healthier and cleaner world for those living in it presently — as well as for those who will be part of it sometime in the future. So who was the father of Earth Day and how did a simple vision of 37 years ago become a reality that we are benefiting from today?
His name was Gaylord Nelson; he was a senator from Wisconsin in the US; and this is his story:
For several years, it had been troubling Sen. Nelson that the state of the environment was simply not on the political agenda of his country. In 1962, he decided to change that by persuading President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. Even though the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda, it did nevertheless plant the seed for the future success of Earth Day.
Six years later in 1969, at a time when anti-Vietnam War demonstrations called “teach-ins,” had spread to college campuses all across the nation, Sen. Nelson decided to organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to the environment through demonstrations such as the anti-Vietnam War “teach-ins”. He was convinced that if he could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, he could generate a large national demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda. It was a big gamble, but worth a try, and so he did. At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, he announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate on behalf of a healthy, sustainable environment. Thousands of colleges and universities held protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, raw sewage, toxic dumps, heavily polluting factories, and power plants, pesticide, freeways, and the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. The rest is history.
In 1990, Earth Day went global, with 200 million people from 141 nations participating through thousands of activities including demonstrations, tree plantings, Earth Fairs, river clean-ups, cultural events and government-sponsored initiatives. This international outpour of concern for the environment finally elevated the importance of environmental issues onto the world stage and into the political agendas of most governments.
Today, as we come closer to the reality of our probable extinction as a result of our own doing, people are taking matters into their own hands. What used to be thought of as “gung-ho” activism carried out by hippies in the 1970s is today becoming a massive global movement for the most important battle of our humanity. The battle for the preservation of our common ground: Mother Earth. Are you ready to enlist?
