Remembering Earth Day....

Many years ago - back in the last century millennium we gathered in great number and pushed our government to protect our air and water. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970.

Later that year, on December 31, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon (R) signed the Clean Air Act and at the same created the Environmental Protection Agency to create and enforce regulations to protect people from air pollution hazardous to our health - specifically sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulates, ozone and lead.


Two years later Congress passed the Clean Water Act, overriding Nixon's veto, and in 1974 the Safe Drinking Water Act was signed.

from Marcellus Protest

In the past couple weeks, three years after BP's blow-out (rom which the Gulf is still recovering), we have seen pipeline ruptures, gas storage explosions and more. We continue burning fossil fuels as greenhouse gasses accumulate in our atmosphere, wondering what sort of world we are leaving our children.

Now, at the beginning of 13 years into the new century, we are back to where we started. This is what the world looks like to a child living in the Pennsylvania drill zone.

We could use some of those Clean Air and Clean Water regulations! What are we waiting for - a world when our children will have to fight over drinking water? Air so dirty they'll have to wear face masks?

Earth Day is about making sure the next generation - and the one after that - enjoy the same benefits we have: clean air, drinkable water, healthy food. In 1970 we talked about wind and solar energy. It's long past time for talking - it's time to get on the bus. Or off the pot. Or whatever will stir you to action.