Earth Day 2010 - What has changed in 40 years?

[Kimby]

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day, celebrated on this date in 1970. I was a sophomore in High School, and got up before the first light to listen to the birds as they woke up and welcomed the dawn. Heard a white-throated sparrow calling "Pure Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada..." on its migration to Canada. Because I lived in Wisconsin and Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, was our Senator, it was a big deal there. Two classmates and I started an Ecology Club in our high school to do environmental cleanups, etc. We also planted hundreds of saplings to replace the shade trees decimated by Dutch Elm Disease. The trees are huge now. My Dad is quite proud of me for that.

Is Earth Day celebrated in YOUR neck of the woods?

[Kimby]

BTW, on the first Earth Day, there were less than 4 billion people on Earth.
Now there are 6.8 billion!

If we are serious about "saving the Earth" we need to get serious about limiting human reproduction. And not just in the wealthy countries (though kids in 1st world countries have much more impact on the earth's resources than kids in 3rd world countries do)

[lagatta]

kimby, if I'm not mistaken the rate of human population growth has declined significantly in the past 40 years, even in many less wealthy countries. Think the very poorest are the exception. The funny thing is though, everyone fears a decline in economic growth and dynamism and a great healthcare burden if there is a population decline, as for a while it will mean there are more elderly people than children.

I attended the opening of an exhibit about "living in sustainable cities" (habiter une ville durable) about initiatives in this direction here in Montréal. There are many Earth Day events, but nothing really central.

By a strange coincidence, my father died on the very first Earth Day, 40 years ago. (Please no tea and sympathy - this was 40 years ago). Just strange to think back on. He died of smoking. Finally died of lung cancer after two heart attacks, phlebitis, and other assorted smoking-related ills.

[Kimby]

Yeah, I guess that (population) horse is already out of the barn.
If we had limited our growth rate while we were still pre-industrial, think how things might be different now.

[Kimby]

What has changed in 40 years?

Well, in 1970 the US had 5% of the world's population but consumed 50% of its resources.

Today we still have about 5% of the (much larger) population, but consume only about 25% of the earth's resources.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean the US is using less, however, just that as China and other countries up their standards of living, THEIR consumption has outstripped ours. The earth is being "used up" at a faster rate.

Regulations enacted since 1970 mean that our air and water are cleaner (except for CO2 production which is up 19% from 1970). And trash - especially plastic - is a much bigger problem than it was then. 30 million tons of plastic solid waste was collected by municipalities in the United States in 2008. No one had heard of the Pacific Gyre, a recirculating mass of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean, in 1970. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

[lagatta]

I believe the CO2 production is because, while individual cars are much cleaner than in 1970, there are simply more of them (even per household). Car ownership in China is increasing by leaps and bounds now (i.e. they are making the same errors as earlier industrialising countries, especially in North America - Europe has done much better at increasing the public and active transport share, in populations with comparative standards of living). Yes, many water pollutants are better-controlled now (and there I can share your "our" because the largest inland bodies of water straddle the US and Canada; do remember that this is an international board, though what you say about share in pollution would apply to the other old industrialised countries). Eutrophication has been largely reversed in the Great Lakes.

I remember Thor Heyerdal seeing a lot of trash in the ocean during his crossings decades ago, but of course as much of this is not biodegradable, the situation has only worsened since then.

I do wish the high-speed train scheme (in the US) could become reality.

[Kimby]

Lots of CO2 is released by burning coal, which is increasing by leaps and bounds, especially in China. Montana is sitting on a big coal deposit our Governor would LOVE to develop, if he could figure out what to do about the CO2. (People are skeptical that pumping it into the ground is gonna keep it there.)

One big change since 1970 is that nuclear power is now actually being considered as a "green" source of energy. Concerns over global warming are trumping fears of long nuclear half-life and having to safely store this stuff practically forever.

[lagatta]

Oh yes, globally Chinese coal is a huge contributor to CO2 - I may have misread you, thinking you were speaking of US production of it. Obviously it does spread throughout the world, but I think there are higher concentrations closer to where it is released or downwind from it (I am NOT a scientist).

[Kimby]

lagatta, you are right, I initially was giving US statistics. But what we do here in the US isn't going to make much of a difference if China and India don't also reduce CO2.

[hwinpp]

True.

I recently read an article describing the scene at one of the 'secret' meetings in Copenhagen, disappointing.

The Chinese Premier sent some 3rd rate assistant who wasn't allowed to make any decision and the Indians basically just said 'njet'.

And worst of all, in the end Obama sided with them.

So, what to do?

[Kimby]

One change since the first Earth Day is the loss of idealism and altruism that pervaded the environmental movement.

Today commercialism, private property rights, and profit-taking are far more prevalent, and "environmentalist" has become a dirty word. If we want to save the earth (for EVERYONE) we are considered elitists who want it for ourselves.

[hwinpp]

and "environmentalist" has become a dirty word.

That's because the left managed to take over the whole idea and the majority of people just aren't left..., unless they have to be.

The Green party in Germany started off as a conservative (!), ecologically minded party. All the conservatives got kicked out, the lefties monopolized and appropriated the term 'environmentalism' and the word was immediately poison to everybody else. The conservatives regrouped as the ODP but were the first victims of the Greens who depicted them as old reactionaries (the second victims were Die Grauen, they were put out of business by the SPD/ Greens grand coalition). Die Grauen catered to the elderly who didn't feel well represented by the SPD or the CDU/ CSU.

[Deleted]

World carbon emissions

[Kimby]

Totally embarassing. I apologize on behalf of my fellow (and mostly clueless and non-apologetic) American consumers.

K2, does your source have a similar map for 1970?
Of course no one worried about carbon then....

[Kimby]

Having been to China twice, I have to wonder how much of their carbon emissions is from burning off crop waste after the harvest. The air pollution in October from agricultural burning was as bad as I've seen in any city in the US....