Earth Day 2015
22/04/15 05:33
Today is Earth Day. It isn’t one of the big holidays. In some ways it feels like an idea that has never fully reached its potential. I’m not sure if I was involved in any activities on the very first Earth Day back in 1970. I did participate in the early years. At our college, Earth Day involved an outdoor gathering and some work projects, often cleaning up litter after a long Montana winter.
The origins of Earth Day lie in an oil spill that occurred in the waters off of Santa Barbara, California in 1969. The region was not prepared for such an event and attempts to clean up the oil by spreading straw to soak it up were only minimally successful. There were attempts to clean up some of the birds, but many died, in part because volunteers didn’t really know how to clean up the oil.
The next year, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin proposed a national day to educate people about the environment and enlist the help of grassroots citizens in organizing to clean up the country. In the intervening years, it never has become quite what was envisioned.
Earth Day 2015 has its own web site, a host of corporate sponsors, official t-shirts, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. It is not, however, seen as a day for teaching and learning. There might be a few rallies and speeches, but for many the day will pass without much that is different from any other day.
Part of the story of Earth Day in the United States has been a story of politics and polarization. What started as a coordinated effort to work together to clean up our corner of the world has become a field of intense argument and disagreement. At the beginning, there was a legislative side to Earth Day. The Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972. The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973. But that was about it for cooperation in congress. In 1990, legislation was passed and signed into law aimed at reducing acid rain. Since then, no major environmental legislation has made it through the U.S. Congress.
Environmentalists have been portrayed as extremists and anti-business. The word is often said as if it were a curse in some circles. Images of tree-huggers disrupting construction projects and excessive regulations strangling business have been bandied about enough to make care for the environment a negative concept in some parts of our society.
Nowhere is the conflict and polarization more stark than in the agricultural community. Farmers and ranchers, the traditional stewards of the land, who dedicate their lives to caring for the earth, have often been pitted against the modern environmental movement. They see changes in regulations governing the use of chemicals as unnecessary. They incur costs due to increased predation from species that have been protected. The very people who seem to be most likely to be advocates for the environment have been alienated by what they see as over regulation and interference with their way of life.
Despite all of the politics and arguments, despite all of the corporate sponsors and marketing, we are still called to care for this planet. Our track record hasn’t been good. We human beings have an established pattern of making messes and not cleaning them up. Some argue that our impact on the planet has made irreversible changes. Continuing business as usual seems to have us on a headlong course toward making the planet unlivable.
And there is a religious side to all of this.
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” declares the Psalmist. This fragile planet that we inhabit is not of our own making and it does not “belong” to us. It is God’s creation and ours to use and care for. It is not only the current generation that has to live with the consequences of the damage that we do - we pass on our legacy to future generations as well.
So, this evening, the youth of our church will gather at their usual meeting time to pick up garbage bags and head out to Skyline drive to help clean up our community. It is a small gesture, though one that is important from an educational standpoint. When messes are made, when litter is strewn all about, someone has to clean it up. Hands-on work to pick up someone else’s litter is a good reminder of why it is important for us to be careful about how we dispose of unwanted items. It becomes a way of life if you keep your eyes open. It is a rare day when I don’t pick up someone else’ litter. And it is a rare day when I don’t wonder why people can’t refrain from littering in the first place.
Our youth won’t be receiving any t-shirts or hoodies with bright earth day logos. They won’t be listening to any speeches. They won’t be carrying placards and demonstrating. They will be out picking up trash to make our city a little bit cleaner and our world a little bit better.
The world will not become instantly cleaner because of Earth Day. There will still be major challenges of pollution and our impact on the ecology of this planet.
And there is another important lesson from these decades of Earth Day. This wondrous planet, created by God, is far more resilient than was earlier predicted. The dire warnings about overpopulation of the 1970’s have not come to pass. When given a little help, the earth recovers much more quickly that was previously thought. Major clean up projects such as superfund sites have resulted in major improvements to the health of those who live there. The grace of God is built into God’s creation. When we are careful about our use of resources and careful to clean up the messes that we make, the earth is capable of restoring itself.
So, Happy Earth Day! May it be a time when we together give thanks for this amazing life-sustaining planet. And may each of us remind ourselves that it is not ours, but belongs to God. And may we see picking up a bit of the trash and cleaning up a bit of the mess as participating in God’s work.
The origins of Earth Day lie in an oil spill that occurred in the waters off of Santa Barbara, California in 1969. The region was not prepared for such an event and attempts to clean up the oil by spreading straw to soak it up were only minimally successful. There were attempts to clean up some of the birds, but many died, in part because volunteers didn’t really know how to clean up the oil.
The next year, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin proposed a national day to educate people about the environment and enlist the help of grassroots citizens in organizing to clean up the country. In the intervening years, it never has become quite what was envisioned.
Earth Day 2015 has its own web site, a host of corporate sponsors, official t-shirts, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. It is not, however, seen as a day for teaching and learning. There might be a few rallies and speeches, but for many the day will pass without much that is different from any other day.
Part of the story of Earth Day in the United States has been a story of politics and polarization. What started as a coordinated effort to work together to clean up our corner of the world has become a field of intense argument and disagreement. At the beginning, there was a legislative side to Earth Day. The Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972. The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973. But that was about it for cooperation in congress. In 1990, legislation was passed and signed into law aimed at reducing acid rain. Since then, no major environmental legislation has made it through the U.S. Congress.
Environmentalists have been portrayed as extremists and anti-business. The word is often said as if it were a curse in some circles. Images of tree-huggers disrupting construction projects and excessive regulations strangling business have been bandied about enough to make care for the environment a negative concept in some parts of our society.
Nowhere is the conflict and polarization more stark than in the agricultural community. Farmers and ranchers, the traditional stewards of the land, who dedicate their lives to caring for the earth, have often been pitted against the modern environmental movement. They see changes in regulations governing the use of chemicals as unnecessary. They incur costs due to increased predation from species that have been protected. The very people who seem to be most likely to be advocates for the environment have been alienated by what they see as over regulation and interference with their way of life.
Despite all of the politics and arguments, despite all of the corporate sponsors and marketing, we are still called to care for this planet. Our track record hasn’t been good. We human beings have an established pattern of making messes and not cleaning them up. Some argue that our impact on the planet has made irreversible changes. Continuing business as usual seems to have us on a headlong course toward making the planet unlivable.
And there is a religious side to all of this.
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” declares the Psalmist. This fragile planet that we inhabit is not of our own making and it does not “belong” to us. It is God’s creation and ours to use and care for. It is not only the current generation that has to live with the consequences of the damage that we do - we pass on our legacy to future generations as well.
So, this evening, the youth of our church will gather at their usual meeting time to pick up garbage bags and head out to Skyline drive to help clean up our community. It is a small gesture, though one that is important from an educational standpoint. When messes are made, when litter is strewn all about, someone has to clean it up. Hands-on work to pick up someone else’s litter is a good reminder of why it is important for us to be careful about how we dispose of unwanted items. It becomes a way of life if you keep your eyes open. It is a rare day when I don’t pick up someone else’ litter. And it is a rare day when I don’t wonder why people can’t refrain from littering in the first place.
Our youth won’t be receiving any t-shirts or hoodies with bright earth day logos. They won’t be listening to any speeches. They won’t be carrying placards and demonstrating. They will be out picking up trash to make our city a little bit cleaner and our world a little bit better.
The world will not become instantly cleaner because of Earth Day. There will still be major challenges of pollution and our impact on the ecology of this planet.
And there is another important lesson from these decades of Earth Day. This wondrous planet, created by God, is far more resilient than was earlier predicted. The dire warnings about overpopulation of the 1970’s have not come to pass. When given a little help, the earth recovers much more quickly that was previously thought. Major clean up projects such as superfund sites have resulted in major improvements to the health of those who live there. The grace of God is built into God’s creation. When we are careful about our use of resources and careful to clean up the messes that we make, the earth is capable of restoring itself.
So, Happy Earth Day! May it be a time when we together give thanks for this amazing life-sustaining planet. And may each of us remind ourselves that it is not ours, but belongs to God. And may we see picking up a bit of the trash and cleaning up a bit of the mess as participating in God’s work.