I grew up in the 1950s, 1960's and 1970s. I was 15 years old in 1970 when the first Earth Day was held. Yes, I am old as fuck, live with it.
I lived on Long Island in New York, about 45 minutes from New York City, so we visited Manhattan quite often. The air was terrible. The city was always covered in smog. On a smoggy day, you can't see forever
Air Pollution New York City 1966
Air Pollution New York City 1973
I was also an avid surfer and skier, so I was out in the water and up in the mountains a lot.
I saw ocean pollution up close and personal. Water pollution was a very real thing. I remember quite clearly when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught on fire in 1969.
The water pollution caused by factories was immense, any rivers and lakes near a major city were polluted to the point it was not safe to swim or eat fish from the lakes.
Many of the rivers like the Cuyahoga, the Detroit River and the Niagara River looked horrible and smelled horrible.
In 1973 I started school in a college that was right next to Lake Erie. I got to see personally how bad Lake Eris was. Pictures really do it no justice. There was raw sewage flowing freely into the lake. There were factories all along the rivers leading into Erie and they were freely dumping all their leftover shit into the rivers which led eventually into the Great Lakes. By the time I got there you didn't dare to swim or fish in the lake, it was truly horrible.
East Chicago 1968
Lake Erie 1968
Lake Erie 1971
Lake Superior 1968
Raw sewage pouring into the Niagara River 1968
The Cuyahoga River has caught fire a total of 13 times dating back to 1868. But the fire in 1969 led to the first Earth Day and helped spur action that ultimately led to the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972.
Cuyahoga River 1967
Cuyahoga River 1969
Cuyahoga River 1973
The first earth day in 1970 was created mainly by college students in an attempt to draw attention to what "we the people" were doing to our environment. It was a very successful movement in a lot of ways. The pressure that the environmental movement put on the Nixon administration along with several environmental catastrophes helped to get the 1972 Clean water act amendments passed. I say amendments because there was already a pollution law in place, the "Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, but it was pretty weak and was not helping to keep our water clean. The amendments made the law much stronger, and it was renamed the Clean Water Act of 1972.
First Earth Day 1970
The Clean Water act 1972 amendments
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations...lean-water-act
Quote:
he Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was the first major U.S. law to address water pollution. Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to sweeping amendments in 1972. As amended in 1972, the law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The 1972 amendments:
Established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States.
Gave EPA the authority to implement pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry.
Maintained existing requirements to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.
Made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions.
Funded the construction of sewage treatment plants under the construction grants program.
Recognized the need for planning to address the critical problems posed by nonpoint source pollution.
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It took a while but the Clean Water Act along with major actions by the U.S. government to clean up the rivers and lakes was very successful. Many of you were not alive during that period and have only seen the air, rivers and lakes after they had been cleaned up. The first Earth Day and subsequent Earth Days have helped keep attention on the environment and the many risks that are caused by man and greed.
Cuyahoga River 2016
Now we are facing different risks, among them plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is a global issue. Countries that don't use much plastic (very few) have to deal with the plastics that other countries produce. Plastic does not break down like other natural materials such as rubber does. Plastics were invented to be around forever; they are not bio-degradable so the time for a plastic to decompose is literally somewhere around 1000 years. Plastics are very convenient but the plastic you toss into the trash today will still be around when your children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's children's ........ are alive.
It is imperative, if you like to live and have good health for us to start getting plastics out of the environment. The first step of that is to stop using them. There are new alternatives made out of biodegradables like corn starch that can take their place. We just have to have the will to demand that it happens.
Currently plastics are everywhere, from the top of Mount Everest to the deepest parts of our oceans. Microplastics have made their way into our food supply and our water supply, this can cause major health issues.
You may think that the U.S. is not the cause of plastics washing up on the beaches in the Philippines but if you look closely at plastic piles you will find lots of Coca Cola, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, etc. All companies based in the U.S.
Plastic Pollution
Plastic Pollution
Plastic Pollution
Plastic in the ocean
Plastic in the ocean
Sea Turtle with plastic
Plastic in a whale
Plastic on the beach
Plastic Pollution California
Earth Day is simply a reminder that we are, every person on Earth, part of the problem and unless we take action we will manage to kill the earth off.
I hope you all have a happy Earth Day