Earth Day resuscitated
“For every action,” Isaac Newton decreed in his Third Law of Motion in 1686, “there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Newton’s law is just as true now as it was 333 years ago—in the realms of politics and policy as well as physics. For example:
The abolition of slavery led to segregation.
Woodrow Wilson’s creation of the League of Nations led to American isolationism which led to World War II which led to American internationalism.
The civil rights movement led to a revival of the Ku Klux Klan, Richard Nixon’s southern strategy, and the election of Donald Trump.
The election of the progressive Barack Obama as the first black American president led two months later to the Tea Party movement and the resurgence of American conservatism.
And now the Trump administration’s opposition to environmentalism and denial of manmade global warming have led to—you guessed it—resuscitated environmentalism.
Call it the law of unintended consequences.
This resuscitation is currently in evidence in the revival of the once moribund Earth Day celebrations around the world. Over the 49 years since its founding in 1970 (organizers are already planning for the 50th anniversary in the midst of next year’s presidential primaries), Earth Day has had its ups and downs. Perhaps the low point was the first decade of this century. During some of the years when I was editor of The Independent, enthusiasm for Earth Day had reached such a nadir that I had to abandon plans for special sections.
This year is entirely different. A week before Earth Day itself, the Earth Day Network, which coordinates the global celebration, had counted 163 demonstrations planned in three dozen countries. On April 22 it expects more than 1 billion participants in 192 countries in the largest day of civic action ever held anywhere for any cause.
This week in London, a group called Extinction Rebellion marshaled thousands of demonstrators to occupy four major landmarks, block roads and shut down public transportation serving half a million riders. Their goal is to force the British government to take action on the escalating climate crisis. A day earlier an updated climate analysis forecast that all Europe’s glaciers will disappear this century.
Also this week, the governors of the Bank of England and France’s central bank warned that the global financial system faces an existential threat from climate change and must take urgent steps to reform. They wrote on Wednesday in The Guardian, “If some companies and industries fail to adjust to this new world, they will fail to exist.” They added, “As financial policymakers and prudential supervisors we cannot ignore the obvious physical risks before our eyes. Climate change is a global problem, which requires global solutions, in which the whole financial sector has a central role to play.”
Last Friday, in “school strikes for climate action,” 1.4 million children in 223 cities in 128 countries walked out of school. The student movement was launched last August in a solo protest by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden, who said recently, “We proved that it does matter what you do and that no one is too small to make a difference.”
The theme of this year’s global events is “protect our species.” The slogan has a double meaning: protect thousands of endangered species, but in doing so protect our own homo sapiens species.
There will be a lot of protests in coming days, but demonstrating is only one way to celebrate Earth Day. Another is simply to take a hike and check out the state of the natural environment for oneself. For denizens of the East Mountains and Estancia Valley, a lot of nature and hundreds of miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding lie at our doorstep.
By a happy congruence, a fine new guide to local hikes has just had its timely publication: the second edition of an expanded “Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide,” written by Mike Coltrin and published by the University of New Mexico Press. Coltin says in his dedication, “To my fellow hiking enthusiasts: May you find the peace and beauty in the Sandia Mountains that I have enjoyed.”
Over the next 10 days, Earth Day events will proliferate. One of the more notable in Albuquerque will be La Montañita food co-op’s 29th annual Earth Fest celebration on April 20, with music, food and information booths.
Next week I’ll be reviewing this new hiking guide so that readers of “Mountain Musing” can share in the rewards both Coltin and I have found in our mountains over the past four decades. What better time than Earth Day to enjoy it all?