A Journey of Peace, Justice, Culture, and Environment
I was chair of “Save the Earth Committee” at Rutgers University – Camden and helped organize the Environmental Teach-In coordinated with the national movement culminating on Earth Day, April 22, 1970. Despite oil spills, burning rivers, poor air quality, declining biodiversity, burgeoning population, threats of nuclear annihilation, and few environmental laws to combat the myriad of problems, we were upbeat, and ready to take on the issues for the vision of a better world. In an editorial in the campus paper, I wrote: We have already changed many aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and when we have sufficiently changed those and the atmospheric conditions, a general succession may take place. Let us hope that the awakening of our conservation conscience is in time to save the world we know, and ourselves. It seems the current issue of climate change and its impacts was on my mind even then!
To mark the event and largest mass demonstration in the history of the country, “The Unanimous Declaration of Interdependence” was adopted by the national Earth Week Committee, in which it was announced: We therefore…declare that all species are interdependent; that they are free to realize these relationships to the full extent of their capabilities; that each species is subservient to the requirements of the natural processes that sustain all life.–And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on all other members of our species who understand their consciousness as a capability, to assist all of us and our brothers to interact in order to realize a life process that manifests its maximum potential of diversity, vitality, and planetary fertility to ensure the continuity of life on earth.
During the decade that followed, The United States, many individual states, and other countries around the world adopted and implemented vital legislation to protect, enhance, and monitor water quality and wetlands, air quality, biodiversity including endangered species, and other parameters. We enacted laws, created agencies and supportive non-governmental organizations, and improved the overall quality of life. This was a monumental achievement despite ongoing threats to life on earth including atmospheric changes since the industrial revolution resulting in the profound changes impacting virtually all aspects of life on earth, from the oceans to the deserts, forests, mountains, and poles. Our epoch on earth has been described as the Anthropocene due the planet-wide impacts our species has heaped on the natural systems. We are in the midst of a mass extinction phenomenon that will mark our epoch as with many other disruptive periods on earth that have come and gone.
Until 2025, most nations have worked together in recent decades attempting to solve the deleterious effects of our domination of the planet’s resources. The many international accords signed by most countries show some minimum unity in solving environmental concerns. However, since the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th and now the 47th President of the United States, his administrations, with congressional Republican support, have withdrawn from global climate accords and now the administration proposes to or has actually eliminated regulatory, research, and conservation programs; has fired thousands of dedicated and knowledgeable employees; has attacked our education and research institutions; and has opened federal lands to logging, drilling, and mining. Many in his administration still deny climate change, and in particular deny that climate change is caused by, or is influenced by, deleterious human activities.
Fortunately, the courts have prevented, or at least slowed, the implementation of many impactful actions all taken in the name of saving taxpayer dollars, which is a smokescreen for deregulation so businesses and wealthy individuals can make more money with less scrutiny and less concern for environmental and broad socio-economic impacts. All generations must object to this assault on the environment and reassert our understanding of interrelatedness and our conscience for doing the right thing to live in harmony with nature. We must rise up once again this Earth Day 2025 and move toward a positive, scientific approach to environmental standards and regulation. We must slow and aim to reverse climate change. We must enhance ecological restoration initiatives including endangered species and biodiversity recovery. And, we must focus on sustainable environmental justice and equity programs throughout the world.
The Trump Administration’s destructive actions are not our vision of interdependence adopted 55 years ago, nor are they the environmental conscience we sought to awaken to restore our planet’s vitality, and save ourselves. We must reclaim our environmental goals and prevent further erosion of our environmental gains. Our future depends on it.
Global warming impacts. National Geographic: https://apple.news/AAnyi3o8sTjq60MXtSKcLYw
National Weather Service cuts. Los Angeles Times: https://apple.news/AY8TZUMTiQ627g5ecEPSHlw
Rejection of what we have learned. The Guardian: https://apple.news/APdLhIiTuR8a4lu5YRCXYqw
Nonprofits targeted. Inside Climate News: https://apple.news/A8vEunpYqQx-r4N7rcNpMLQ
