Global warming may be a hard sell to Canadians with record snowfalls this past winter, but with spring upon us, we can look at what has already been achieved since the first Earth Days. Yes, there are two; first, the UN initiative founded in March 1969 by peace activist, John McConell and the more familiar Earth Day founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson as a “teach-in” in 1970 and celebrated in many countries in April.
Thirty-nine years ago this month, the environmental movement came of age in North America. When April 22, 1970 dawned, millions of Americans of all ages and from all walks of life participated in Earth Day celebrations from coast to coast. But, the precursor to this was Rachel Carson who must be credited with initiating the environmental movement. She raised awareness of environmental damage by pesticides and our responsibility to protect nature in her book The Silent Spring published in 1962. To quote Carson from one of her last interviews, “man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself‚Ķ[We are] challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves.”
From pesticides to smog and acid rain and ozone depleting substances and now green house gas emissions, we have created many deadly challenges for ourselves. Whether this is through ignorance, or greed or both, we have shown that we have the technology and intellect to reverse the damage – all we need is the will. The psychopath looks on without compassion at another’s demise; those who continue to perpetrate industrial pollution do so on a global scale to Mother Earth.
What has happened to the Great Lakes is an excellent example of what has been achieved already. In 1970, scientists told us that Lake Erie was dying and that the other Great Lakes were threatened by pollution from the steel plants, oil refineries, paper mills and city sewage plants, which had polluted the world’s largest fresh water system. Rivers were literally catching fire. By 1980, the lakes had won a stay of execution, thanks to an international effort between Canada and the U.S. Federal and Provincial legislation, notably the Clean Water Acts, have provided us with the means to control new threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Phosphorus levels, which once threatened the lakes with death by eutrophication, are declining. DDT is leaving the Great Lakes food chain faster than expected. Then, during the Mulroney government years, we dealt with the seemingly insurmountable acid rain problem killing our lakes and, again through joint Canadian U.S. initiatives, cleaned it up. Who talks acid rain now?
Think of our own industry achievements since the first Earth Day. We no longer have highly toxic substances in inks like lead oxide in white and chrome in yellow. Before WHMIS (1987), we had no effective way to know what was in chemical products. Methyl ethyl keytone, Toluene sulphonic acid, carbon tetrachloride, benzene and other carcinogens were common cleaning solvents damaging both ecosystems and employees. We were poisoning fish with silver thiosulphate from film processing, and through ignorance and the lack of sewer bylaws, pouring pollutants down the drain.
So long as the human race inhabits the Earth, sustainable management of its resources will be the most fundamental issue we face. That was the great lesson of Earth Day. It must never be forgotten. Have a great spring, enjoy the birds and say thanks to Rachel Carson.
