When the idea of Earth Day was first conceptualized in 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson saw the need to raise public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the principal links between pollution and public health. Earth Day didn't go global until 1990 where the world saw the effects of oil spills, polluting factories, power plants, landfills, chemicals and their effects which cause the loss of wildlife.
Most of the world started to take note of what was killing our planet, our home, the very essence of our life. Regulations started to be put into place that protected wildlife from overhunting and poaching. Chemicals, insecticides, fungicides and rodenticides started to be regulated which not only saved the environment from its effects, but saved millions from disease and even death. The world started to pay attention to and develop recycling to limit the effects of waste and reduce our consumption of natural resources.
Decades later, we are in an unprecedented situation where the world has shut down most of its factories, emptied most of its freeways and highways, forced residents into isolation and the impact was seen almost immediately. Lakes, streams and canals have cleared of pollution and waste and life returned immediately. The reduction in vehicle and watercraft traffic saw wildlife returning to areas they once inhabited and were chased out of for the sake of urbanization and modernization. The skies cleared of smoke and smog and are clear and pristine in the day but full of stars at night.
In my own home, I started to hear birds in the morning again, and frogs at night, two things that haven't happened for years. Last night we saw the Lyrids meteor shower when usually we couldn't even see the stars on most nights. We need our planet to live, so that we can live too. Even after COVID-19 we can continue to have these amazing occurrences that seem so simple but became unknown to us. We are seeing proof that a change in our actions can affect the world we live in and that we can clean up our planet.
I call on our government to recognize our right to a healthy environment and to no longer stall our regulations and acts that can effectively manage and save our environment from its eventual demise. I call on my fellow citizens to do the right thing, stop polluting, start recycling and doing your part. I also call on my fellow citizens to stop the senseless killing and brutalization of our wildlife. We have conservation laws for a reason and when you destroy our ecosystems and disturb the level of biodiversity we have, we all pay the price.
Take a look outside and look at the differences so that when this is all over, you too would want to keep it. Please stay safe and continue to stay isolated during this pandemic and I wish you all a Happy Earth Day.
Published by WEPTT · 22 April 2020
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