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Earth Day Promotes Citizen Involvement

Release Date: 5/13/2000
Contact Information: Pam Emerson
emerson.pam@epa.gov
(206) 553-1287

Note: The following OpEd was submitted to the South County Journal, (King County, Washington) and printed in the May 13 edition.

By Pam Emerson

Your April 16 editorial, ``Apocalypse Now: Greening of our Schoolchildren,'' confuses both the history and purpose of Earth Day and the current standard of environmental education in public schools.

The author's fear that Earth Day was going to generate swarms of activists ``to rage against oil companies, auto-makers, biofood companies developers Americans who mow their lawns ...'' was at best a misplaced fear and at worst a calculated rhetorical device meant to divert attention away from the true spirit and significance of Earth Day.

Let's look at the facts.

Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day founder and former U.S. senator from Wisconsin, describes the essence of Earth Day as a ``nationwide teach-in on the environment'' whose objective was and is to foster widespread ``concern for the environment.'' According to Earth Day Network, the nonprofit organization responsible for organizing Earth Day 2000 celebrations in more than 150 countries, this spirit of teaching, learning and concern translated into the following activities this year in Seattle and the surrounding area:

• The planting of 200,000 trees in the public open spaces along the I-90 corridor by Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust volunteers. This was the largest local, volunteer-based tree planting event in U.S. history.
• The building of an inner-city communal food garden in the Cascade neighborhood. Local volunteers spent their day constructing terraced beds and planting cover crop.
• The celebration of Seattle Public Utilities' Urban Creeks Legacy -- highlighting the achievements of volunteers in the Urban Creeks Program. Community celebrations were held at each of Seattle's major urban creeks: Longfellow Creek, Pipers Creek, Taylor Creek and Thornton Creek.

Earth Day is not about fear or rage. It is not against companies or ``Americans who mow their lawns.'' Earth Day is about learning and taking action according to what we have learned. It is for critically examining our relationship with the Earth and its resources. It is for making informed decisions so as to not jeopardize our health and standard of living or
that of our children and children's children.

And we can't make informed decisions without information and understanding. To participate fully and meaningfully in environmental decision-making and problem-solving, we all need to understand not only how our environment works but also how our environment interfaces with economics and politics. We need to have at the very least a basic grasp of environmental concepts. We need to understand any trade-offs we implicitly agree to when we make our personal lifestyle choices.

A recent nationwide poll conducted by Starch Roper International reveals that Americans' basic environmental knowledge is alarmingly low. Only 45 percent of Americans know that the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity generation is the main cause of global climate change. Fewer than 25 percent of Americans know that the primary cause of water pollution in the US is non-point source pollution, or runoff from yards, streets and fields. Less than one in nine Americans can get a passing score of 60 percent on a simple 10-question, multiple-choice quiz about the environment. We are making our decisions in the dark.

In a nutshell, the goal of environmental education is to help increase environmental literacy -- to help us make informed environmental decisions. Quality environmental education programs adhere to a disciplined set of criteria. These criteria require the use of up-to-date and accurate information. They require that material be presented in a balanced way and that the economic, political and scientific complexities of environmental issues be examined in depth. Again, the goal is to help people make informed decisions. Quality environmental education is student-centered. It provides opportunities for students to apply their knowledge to the analysis of real-world problems and real-world solutions.

We cannot be afraid of Earth Day celebrations or other efforts aimed at increasing environmental literacy. The truly frightening prospect is what our world might be like without them.

Pam Emerson is the Environmental
Education Coordinator for Region 10, EPA.