Earth Day

photo credit: www.popularmechanics.com

I remember the first Earth Day. I was teaching third grade then. It made us aware of what we were doing to Earth and became a terrific addition to the science program. For too many years, people didn’t think about what was happening to our environment. While industrialization helped the economy, smog, emissions from factories, and dumping waste into our rivers, lakes, and oceans hurt our environment. The air we breathe, the water we drink was being poisoned. A Wisconsin senator decided something had to be done to bring awareness to what we were doing to our planet.

Each year since 1970, we celebrate Earth Day. Shortly after the first Earth Day, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency. Since then, our air has gotten cleaner, our water cleaner, toxic chemicals banned, and much more. Click here to learn about the environmental victories since 1970.

All this is great. But what would happen if the current laws are reduced or eliminated? Would our rivers catch fire again? Would we not be able to breathe without wearing some type of filtration system? 

Because of industrialization, many of our rainforests are being decimated. Trees clean the air. Their roots help prevent erosion.

This year, the focus of Earth Day is on Environmental and Climate Literacy. Through education, we learn how to care for our home. We also must learn about climate change and its threat to our planet. Earth is the only home we have. Because of the lag in space exploration, there is no Earth-like planet we can go to when we destroy this one.

What can we do to save our planet? Some very simple things, like plant a tree. Read more here. Also, remember the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle. If we all do something, even little things, we can make a difference.