Earth Day. Why do we even need one?

For 150,000 years of human existence, we numbered only a miniscule few million at most. Earth was a vast ocean of non-human nature in which there were tiny islands of human impact. In the past 75-100 years these tiny islands have grown to the size of continents. A hundred years ago there were just under 2 billion of us. We now number more than 8 billion, soon to hit 10-12 billion. And the average environmental impact per person has far more than quadrupled.

It became obvious that a concerted effort was needed to protect our lovely planet earth. In 1970 the Environmental Protection Act was passed. Earth Day was born.

In the years after 1970, we congratulated ourselves on real improvements in environmental health. Our creeks no longer looked like soapsuds-filled bathtubs. The Cuyahoga River no longer caught fire. Little did we realize that for every step forward we made, we were taking two steps back.

In the past few decades, man has been the cause of the decimation of countless species, and increased the species extinction rate to hundreds or even thousands of times the normal rate. We have created more than 80,000 chemicals that never existed in earth’s 4 billion year history. A number of them exist in the bodies of living creatures, yours included; evidence exists that many are harmful to life, but we have tested just a tiny fraction of them for long-term impacts.

We have measurably changed the acidity of the oceans, which experts expect to drop by the end of this century to a pH level not experienced in more than 14 million years, impacting ocean ecologies, food supplies, and the world economy. We will soon have heated earth to 1.5C warmer than pre-industrial temperatures and are on track to heat 2.5-3C warmer by 2100, higher than it has been in millions of years. Summer arctic ice is shrinking by more than 12% per decade. Desertification and increasingly punishing droughts are creating water scarcity, impacting food production the world over, including our U.S. Southwest.

We are rapidly depleting groundwater resources worldwide. It is likely our heating of the oceans will disrupt ocean currents that would disrupt climate in heavily populated Atlantic nations. A quarter of marine life depends upon healthy coral reefs for important parts of their life cycle, and by 2030 it is estimated that 90% of them will be threatened by human activities, with nearly 60% facing high to critical threat levels. The oceans are filled with many millions of tons of plastic, not only in the grossly large form of sacks, bottles, and six-pack rings, but also microplastics too small to see, which enter the oceanic and human food chain.

Our list of serious environmental challenges can seem overwhelming, leading to despair and denial. But if we recognize the problems and commit to resolving them, we can. We almost succeeded in destroying the earth’s ozone layer but were able to come together to create multi-national agreements that nearly eliminated the production and release of ozone-depleting chemicals.

We can do the same for protecting our overall earthly environment if we make a concerted effort. A movement is afoot, the so-called 30×30 initiative, proposed in 2019, to protect 30% of earth’s land and sea areas from human activity by the year 2030. As of Dec 2022, 190 nations had signed on to this initiative. Though a 50×50 plan is more in line with what is needed, 30×30 is a hopeful first step – only if nations live up to their words. 

So the need for Earth Day is obvious, and it is fitting that we have a special, once a year commemoration. We need to put into practice that every single day of the year is Earth Day.

Mark Warren

A native Austinite, Warren is a volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby and has studied climate and environmental issues for years. 

Published by the Austin American-Statesman

April 21, 2024

Thank you for printing a lovely commentary on Earth Day. We all dislike pollution, and we know that it can wipe out entire species, but do we know how much it harms us? Over 60,000 Americans die prematurely every year from air pollution, most of which comes from burning fossil fuels. This is equivalent to a fully loaded jumbo jet crashing every three days, with no survivors. We don’t have to live this way anymore. There are cleaner ways to produce energy. We need to let our leaders know that we want to breathe deeply and live.

Marie Miglin, PhD.

Volunteering as Co-Leader, Austin Metro Chapter, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Consulting Engineer with 35 years in the energy sector

mtmiglin@gmail.com