Earth Day 2008: Newsroom



				"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." -Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

		History of Earthday Sen. Nelson bio About The Wilderness Society *Index*

Sen. Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day

Building a sustainable society is the critical challenge of this century. Everything depends on it.

-- Sen. Gaylord Nelson, Founder, Earth Day

On the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, millions expressed their dismay over what was happening to the environment around them and their alarm over the indifference to it by the political leaders of the country.

We are all in debt to that 70s generation of young folks--grade school, high school, and college--who supplied the energy, enthusiasm, and idealism that forced environmental concerns into the political arena for the first time.

A Challenge for the 21st Century
What a legacy that 70s generation left us! And now, what a wonderful opportunity the current generation of students has to build and expand on that legacy. Indeed, if this new generation of students can persuade the political establishment to initiate a national dialogue on sustainability it will mark another turning point in our history because only such a dialogue will provide the information and public understanding necessary to guide us on a path to sustainability.

No modern society is currently sustainable over the long-term because all are consuming capital and counting it on the profit side of the ledger. Any business that spends its capital and counts it as profit is headed for bankruptcy. A nation is no different. After all, a nation's capital (its wealth, so to speak) is the air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and bio-diversity. Take this away and all that is left is a wasteland. As we pollute, erode and degrade our resource base we are spending capital. Obviously, this is not a sustainable situation in the long term.

Forging a Sustainable Society
Forging a sustainable society is our first and most important order of business. We have not yet begun a national discussion on what sustainability means and why it is important. That is a failure of past congresses and presidents. Here's what must happen to set our country on the path of sustainability:

The President must begin a national dialogue on the issue of sustainability by beginning a tradition of a biennial "State of the Environment" address. This biennial message would be in addition to the traditional State of the Union address.
The Congress must undertake a comprehensive series of educational hearings on the concept and significance of sustainability.
The public must encourage serious Presidential and congressional attention to the issue of sustainability.
The youth of America are also involved, making it clear to the President and Congress that sustainability is essential to the security of our nation.

Since sustainability is everyone's concern, we should all be actively involved, particularly the youth of America who will inherit whatever environment we leave behind.