On the first Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 1970, I spent that night trying to convince Florida Governor Claude Kirk to do something to save the Everglades. Kirk had come to our university campus to prevent what he said would be a student uprising. He had no idea what Earth Day was and droned on about the problem of student unrest instead.

The Everglades was engineered by the US Army Corps of Engineers who designed a grid of canals, levees and spillways to decimate and drain the swamp. Acre by acre, this natural wonder was disappearing to make arable land. Our sea of grass was being destroyed by our government, private developers, sugar plantations, a devastating drought and out of control wildfires. This ecological jewel was under attack. Unfortunately, Governor Kirk, like so many politicians of his time, environmental concern was not on their radar. Governor Kirk just didn’t get it. 


Since then, I’ve continued to advocate for and to remain in harmony with our environment, staying true to my core values to do no harm. Earth Day 1970, for me and my fellow Baby Boomer students, was a real awakening. We continue to pay it forward; now, more urgently because so much remains to be done. 


 For more than 50 years I have wondered what could I do to affect a more positive environmental outcome, anything that would make a measurable impact on the planet’s future. I set up a website for sr+ and founded OurBlueOrb.Org and published it online to accomplish sustainable natural resources goals for a viable Earth and healthy ocean biome and ecosystems. 



In 1969, Senator Gaylord Nelson had an idea for a national teach-in about the environment to send a message to Washington that public opinion was solidly behind a bold and necessary political agenda of fixing environmental problems. Earth Day became his brainchild. He saw the need to provide unity to the grassroots environmental movements and increase ecological awareness. "The objective was to get a nationwide demonstration of concern for the environment so large that it would shake the political establishment out of its lethargy,” Senator Nelson said, “and, finally, force the issue permanently onto the national political agenda.”  

Rachel Carson's sea trilogy, ‘Under the Sea Wind,’ 1941, ‘The Sea Around Us,’ 1952, ‘Edge of the Sea,’ 1955, and ultimately the 1962 publication of her book ‘Silent Spring,’ about the lethal pesticide effects of DDT, are often cited as the beginning of the modern environmental movement.

Sustainability, a “back-to-the-land” movement and ecology concerns became the values of ecological awareness which were never then and are not now part of a radical liberal left wing agenda or uprising. Environmental activism was needed then and is needed far more right now.

Back when John Kennedy established three national seashores to protect coastlines and oceans, promoted a youth conservation corps and moved the needle on the necessity to preserve the environment, he made his "Legacy a comprehensive environmental initiative." The first Earth Day had increased environmental awareness of our government and the general population until in 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency was established by Nixon’s executive order to regulate and enforce national pollution legislation.

A continued Earth Day fever caused Congress to pass the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts which Nixon signed into law. Now, not so much is being done on our country's environmental front.



Let the spirit and unity of the environmental activism of that first Earth Day provide the needed justification to give us the dedication to join together to continue improvement of all our ecosystems. It is necessary to reduce pollution, conserve our natural resources, and promote sustainable practices to protect habitat and enhance overall the well-being of all Earth’s creatures as we nourish life on Our Blue Orb.

The time to make a healthy environment is right now. Join me and make it happen.



stevendphilbrick
sr+ for Sustainable Resources & Our Blue Orb