Ledger

Issue date: 4/20/06 Section: Accent

Media Credit: http://www.trails.com/earth-day.asp http://www.trails.com/earth-day.asp

April 22, 2006 marks the 36th anniversary of Earth Day. Many in our community will mark this date by planting a tree or picking up trash in local parks. Afterwards, people will return home and wash the dirt from their hands. They will relax with a sense of accomplishment and self-righteousness.
The shovel and gardening gloves will remain in the shed for another 364 days until Earth Day rolls around again. This watered-down form of environmentalism bears little resemblance to the origins of Earth Day. Has this day become nothing more than a cliché for the masses?
The Pacific Northwest played a role in the history of Earth Day. While visiting Seattle in November of 1969, visionary senator Gaylord Nelson proposed a national day to draw political attention to environmental degradation.
"I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda," Nelson later wrote about this feat.
April 22, 1970 marked the first large-scale, grassroots effort to force politicians to face the rising devastation of our environment. In the end, students at two thousand colleges or universities and ten thousand primary schools participated. Twenty million demonstrators, in all, came together in solidarity for the environment and cried out for political attention.
This single event has led to an onslaught of environmental legislation including the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. These isolated single initiatives have snowballed into a nationwide consciousness of environmental issues.
"Earth Day exemplifies an attitude that is the basis of good environmental laws and changes in people's everyday behavior," Mike Sato of People for Puget Sound stated.
Likewise, Scott Hansen of Puget Creek Restoration Society, described the impact of Earth Day,
"It has brought the focus and awareness of our natural surroundings and the problems in the environment to the people, and has given the population a means to do something about the situation."
The Puget Sound area is ripe with organizations committed to improving the environment. The focus of these organizations ranges from restoration projects and education to strong legislation and enforcement of those laws.
People for Puget Sound is one such organization encompassing all of these areas.
"We're a citizen organization aimed at protecting and restoring the health of Puget Sound through advocacy, restoration and education," Mike Sato explained.
Perhaps we were being too harsh on the gardening gloves in the shed. Earth Day is about action, but it is also about awareness. This awareness incorporates our everyday activities and attitudes. Earth Day is about choices: choosing to separate our recycling, choosing to walk to the post office instead of driving, or choosing to get involved with one of the many advocacy organizations in our area.

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