In recent years, Earth Day has become a mellow celebration of
feel-good environmentalism.
Volunteer groups turn out to collect trash from beaches and
creeks, refurbish trails and nature centers, and recruit new
members. Companies that produce environmentally friendly products
showcase their wares, and utilities hand out information about
conserving water and energy.
Generally, these events celebrate the progress that has been
made in the years since the original Earth Day in 1970 ““ and
there is plenty to celebrate. In the United States, at least,
rivers no longer burn. Industrial facilities, cars, trucks and even
lawn mowers and paints all pollute less than they used to.
So why do we still need Earth Day? Well, for starters, we can no
longer take continued environmental progress for granted. The
United States may dominate the planet as a military power, but we
are outnumbered and increasingly on the defensive in the global
economic realm. Pollution at home may be reduced, but our
contribution to the buildup of greenhouse gases continues to grow,
even as other countries are ramping up their energy use.
The failure of the Bush administration to put forward any
credible proposals for tackling this problem has cost the country
its credibility in the international dialogue as well as
opportunities for promoting American energy efficiency and
pollution-control technologies abroad.
Even in the United States we have seen that an administration
determined to correct what it sees as the “excesses” of
earlier efforts to protect natural resources and advance
environmental health can wipe out decades of policy with a few
carefully chosen tweaks of the rules. Environmental reporters have
run out of synonyms for “rollbacks,” and the public
grows weary of stories about prosecutors quitting in disgust
because they are not allowed to pursue polluters.
Perhaps it is time to go back and remember that the first Earth
Day was not a hymn of praise for our mother planet but an angry
mobilization of citizens demanding that their air, water and land
be protected.
We need a day to remind ourselves that we still don’t have
the alternative to the internal combustion engine or the
sustainable energy strategy or the urban greening that the original
mobilization demanded over three decades ago. We need to look at
our elected officials at all levels ““ beginning at the top
““ and demand accountability for their performance as stewards
of our natural resources.
Here in California the environmental community has been active
and vigilant. Politicians vie for support on their environmental
platforms, and our new Republican governor has made heroic efforts
to demonstrate that his party is not going to forfeit the green
mantle to the Democrats.
There is much we can do on the UCLA campus, in the L.A. area and
at the state level to push for more progressive policies.
On campus, we can use the current building boom to promote
state-of-the-art construction and design for energy efficient and
renewable materials, thus implementing a policy already passed by
the University of California Board of Regents.
We can use our consumer power.
And perhaps most important of all, we can take advantage of the
unparalleled resources of this university to become better citizens
of our planet. In every department and school, in all the arts and
sciences, there are courses that promote environmental
understanding and help give us tools to forge new and better
solutions.
Then, recognizing that the issues are often complex and that we
need scientists, lawyers and politicians to address them on a
full-time basis, we need to send a message to Washington that we
will not settle for a few nice photo-ops in the Sierra or a stroll
on the beach while our national environmental agenda is being
written behind closed doors by industry lobbyists.
Nichols is the director of the UCLA Institute of the
Environment. She has served as California’s secretary of
resources and as an administrator in the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.