OPINION: Let’s Celebrate Earth Day, But Let’s Also Remember Its Political Roots

Earth Day does a good job teaching individuals to take personal steps to help the environment, but the political edge that was present at the first Earth Day has been greatly diminished.

By Eric Bonds
COLUMNIST

Denis Hayes (L) was the force behind the first Earth Day, which was a decidedly political movement; today, Earth Day has lost some of that political edge, focusing more on what individuals can do, like growing your own food (R). Hayes photo courtesy: "Denis Hayes, Coordinator of the First Earth Day (1970) Founder of the Earth Day Network President and Chief Executive Officer, Bullitt Foundation" by umseas is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Earth Day planting photo courtesy: "Earth Day planting" by Josh Parrish is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

As an environmentalist, I have an ambivalent relationship with Earth Day.

I love the festival-like atmosphere that will transpire today at Old Mill Park. I have fond memories of spending time there with my kids when they were little. They loved Earth Day as a chance to get their faces painted, ride around in the tiny children’s train, build a bird house, and visit all the different booths.

Earth Day also remains a crucial time when local environmental organizations can meet and speak with thousands of people who will attend the event.

At the same time, I’ve also felt an unease with an Earth Day festival that is decidedly apolitical when our urgent environmental problems require political solutions.

The very first Earth Day in 1970 was intentionally non-partisan, and included both a Democratic and Republican member of Congress on the original organizing committee. But the first Earth Day was also unmistakably political.

In 1970, the air and water in major American cities was filthy. The nation lacked an adequate regulatory approach to handle hazardous waste. Things were a mess.

People understood that in order to effectively address these problems, they needed to create a political movement to win local environmental victories and pass national regulations. The original Earth Day even included a call to defeat a “dirty dozen” group of vulnerable members of Congress who were stalwart opponents of environmental legislation.

The first Earth Day was a smashing success, inspiring 20 million Americans to rally, demonstrate, and educate for governmental action to tackle pollution. It was part of the larger wave of advocacy that helped secure the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other landmark environmental laws.

As the years rolled by, the overtly political nature of the first Earth Day fell by the wayside. Instead, it became mostly a celebration of the value of nature in our lives and an opportunity to stress personal responsibility — like recycling and tree planting — in matters of sustainability.

Of course, we do need to celebrate nature. And we must encourage others — and remind ourselves — to make more sustainable individual choices when options are accessible and affordable. But the need for political action has not diminished.

The scale and speed of changes taking place in the Earth’s climate are astounding. Right now, the world is experiencing an unprecedented coral bleaching event, with 84% of reefs impacted. The decline of coral reefs across the globe is linked with excess heat in the ocean, which has shattered previous records.

Records keep breaking for atmospheric heat as well. That past year, 2024, was the hottest year on record, surpassing 2023 as the previous warmest year. Astonishingly, the ten warmest years on record have all occurred in the last ten years. We recently experienced a span of 13 months — from June of 2023 to June of 2024 — in which each month set a new global temperature record for that same time of year.

I don’t need to tell you that we are the primary cause of these stunning changes in our climate due to our dependence on fossil fuels and the resulting carbon emissions. But we don’t have to continue along this course. A renewable energy economy is both possible and necessary.

The Trump Administration is currently working hard to impede the transition from fossil fuels, dismantling already insufficient federal efforts to reduce carbon pollution. In this dangerous moment that we inhabit, let’s remember the original intent of Earth Day.

Let’s celebrate at Old Mill Park, but let’s also commit to political action. Find an organization there and ask how you can get involved. Call a representative on your city council or board of supervisors and urge them to take further steps to protect the climate. When the next opportunity comes to protest for democracy and environmental sustainability, take to the streets.

In America, we often don’t like to talk about politics in public because, in such a highly polarized society, politics have the capacity to tear us apart. But as in that first Earth Day, we can put partisanship aside and urge our elected officials, both Democrat and Republican, to do better on the environment. Despite our differences, we share in common this Earth.

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