Earth Day 2020

Giant redwood tree, Redwoods National Park, California, USA.

Today is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, with the first Earth Day being celebrated on this date in 1970.  Even in these challenging and difficult times, it is always important to never forget about our Mother Earth, she of spectacular beauty and splendor, supporting us, and millions of other species, and containing natural wonders just waiting to be explored, to be experienced.  I have been very fortunate over the years to visit some amazing places, awesome places filled with amazing landscapes, breathtaking beauty, and incredible biodiversity.  But I am worried, very worried, about the future of the natural world.  We are in trouble, and the coronavirus is only one problem we face today.

On this day, I am reminded of a quote by David Orr, part of which I often included in my lectures in classes such as Environmental Science and Conservation Biology. 
David Orr (1991, part of an essay adapted from a commencement address): "If today is a typical day on planet Earth, we will lose 116 square miles of rainforest, or about an acre a second.  We will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, as a result of human mismanagement and overpopulation.  We will lose 40 to 100 species and no one knows whether the number is 40 or 100.  Today, the human population will increase by 250,000.  And today we will add 2,700 tons of chloroflourocarbons to the atmosphere and 15 million tons of carbon.  Tonight, the Earth will be a little hotter, its waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare."

It has been 50 years since the first Earth Day, and 30 years since David Orr uttered the words above as part of a commencement address to  the graduating class of 1990 at Arkansas College.  Where do we stand today? How much progress have we made in reducing pollution, protecting biodiversity and habitats, and limiting human population growth?  While some progress has been made, the answer to this question is that we are not doing well, and the situation is actually much worse, even dire, when you look at data.

• According to the World Wildlife Fund, we are currently losing 18.7 million acres of forest annually, or 51,000 acres per day.  In the Amazon basin of South America, 17% of the most diverse forest habitats on the planet have been destroyed since the first Earth Day 50 years ago.
• We are also losing habitats to desertification. According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, 12 million hectares (46,332 square mi) of arable land is lost to drought and desertification each year.
• Since 1900, the mean abundance of native species in terrestrial habitats has declined by at least 20%, and the situation for aquatic species is even worse.  By 2019, approximately 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction in the near future according to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
• Globally, the human population is adding 220,000 people per day, over 150 people per minute.
• We have made progress in terms of the emissions of CFCs, thanks to the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty signed in 1987, designed to phase out emissions of CFCs.  And while emissions have decreased significantly for years, until 2013, when emissions began to grow.  And we are not doing well at all when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions and climate change.
• As combustion of fossil fuels continues at an alarming rate, 2016 was the warmest year on record (according to NASA and NOAA), 2019 was the second warmest on record, and 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have occurred since 2000.  February 2020 was the second warmest February on record, and the same for March.  And so far, 2020 to date (January through March) is the second hottest year on record.  Global energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide in 2019 was estimated to be approximately 33 gigatons, or 9.041 tons per day.
• In summary, we are not doing very well, and some might argue, that we have made very little progress in protecting natural habitats and all the species which call these habitats home since David Orr spoke the words above, and maybe in some ways, even since the first Earth Day 50 years ago today.

The situation is made even worse when you look at what the Trump administration is doing to roll back environmental protections in the US.  For example, according to the New York Times, the Trump administration has rolled back 95 environmental rules and regulations since he took office.  They are attempting to withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, they have lifted the ban on drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, they have changed the way the Endangered Species Act is applied to protect threatened species, and they have rolled back if not totally eliminated pollution protections for freshwater including many wetlands and temporary streams.  We are moving in the wrong direction in this country, and some of the damage inflicted on natural habitats will be permanent.  This assault on our natural habitats and biodiversity cannot continue, must not be allowed to continue.  What is bad for the environment is bad for us, and we have known this for years.

The time is now for bold, decisive action to protect the Earth, and all those who call this planet home, including us.  "Nature does not need us, but we need nature."   The clock is ticking, now is the time for action, innovation, inspiration, and significant change.  The world is now suffering through a brutal viral outbreak, one which has already killed almost 180,000 people worldwide.  And the more we learn about the virus, its origins, the more we understand how our impacts on the natural world, on other species, is in part to blame.  We are living in difficult and scary times, but now is not the time to get distracted, complacent.  The next environmental disaster is already here, climate change, and the global impacts of the damage which will result will make our current problem seem almost trivial.  Please, today, don't forget our "Spaceship Earth", our Mother Earth, who supports us, sustains us, and gives so much awe-inspiring beauty and joy.  Please celebrate Earth Day, in any way that you can.  Let us work together to not only keep one another safe and healthy, but also do the same for planet Earth as well.

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