EARTH DAY #50

A half century ago Earth Day was a new and intriguing concept. Space exploration had given us our first images of our planet as a whole ~ a beautiful blue orb, a jewel in the cosmos. Yet many of us were painfully aware of the terrible damage our species had done and was doing to that gem.  Earth Day was an opportunity for consciousness raising, for calling attention to what needed to be done, for banding together to organize for change.

In some ways progress has been made.  Air and water for some parts of our earth are cleaner than they were. Land is being conserved. A few species have been saved from extinction. But overall the ecosystem that has supported mammalian life on the planet for the past two hundred million years or so ~ life that includes our human species ~ is under dire stress. Anthropogenic climate change threatens life as we know it on this, our one and only home planet.

Fifty years ago I had never heard of climate change. The threats of the day were oil spills, toxic waste dumps, unfiltered pollution spewing from factories and processing plants. In the intervening decades careful scientists have examined, analyzed, and warned with increasing urgency about what we are facing. Global leaders have met, discussed, delayed, signed non-binding agreements, and squandered much of the time during which significant mitigation could have occurred. And immensely wealthy interests, led by free market ideologues and extractive industry executives, have mounted a world-wide campaign of disinformation and denial.  The attacks on accurate science are vicious, infuriating, and never-ending.

Here then is my statement for this fiftieth observance of Earth Day. I will continue to advocate for good science and truthful reporting in whatever way I can. I will research the sources for whatever I read, sharing what in my best judgment is useful and accurate and calling to account what is revealed to be false, malicious, or deliberately misleading. If later research shows that something I said or shared was inaccurate, I will make a public correction. I have no tolerance for conspiracy theories, ideologically driven and demonstrably false statements, or attacks on real science and scientists. I care very deeply about our planet and all the Beings on it, and I pray that the children of today will have a cleaner, greener, and far more sustainable home when it comes time to celebrate the One Hundredth Earth Day.

The picture with this post illustrates the commitment to good science with which I was raised and to which I adhere: on the left is my father’s Bausch and Lomb Science Award, presented to him at the close of his senior year of high school.  On the right is mine.