Earth from space: NASA

On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the 10th anniversary of the BP oil disaster, and a couple of months into the coronavirus pandemic and economic collapse, I’m not feeling so well or very optimistic about the future of human life on planet Earth.

It’s similar to how I feel about the Civil Rights Movement. We had made so much progress!

And then, just like that in the election of 2016, about half the people in the United States decided one step forward should be met with two steps back.

It’s maddening.

With all the money, power and knowledge we have at our fingertips, with all the marketing expertise of the mass media, all the great colleges and universities here, we can’t educate people enough and convince them that their own economic and literal survival for themselves and their families is dependent on working as hard as possible every day for a just and sustainable future?

We’re just going to throw it all away fighting over a flag?

What is it going to take?

In conducting research leading up to this day, I ran across a very interesting interview with University of Oregon Professor Greg Retallack, an academic expert in global climate change, mass extinctions, major evolutionary transitions, ancient Mars environments, and the origin of life. He’s a professor of earth sciences and the Director of Paleontological Collections at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History. He studies the evolution of life on land, and in particular, the evidence of fossil soils. His past studies have explored the role of soils in ape and human evolution in Kenya, grassland evolution in North America, and dinosaur extinction in Montana.

In January 2014, well before the novel coronavirus was discovered, he was interviewed by Roger Reid, one of the producers of the public television series Discovering Alabama, not for that show but for a Speaking Evolution project. What he said was nothing short of prophetic.

“The thing that will cool the planet is probably not another grass or another kudzu vine,” the professor said. “It’s probably a virus or a bacterial contagion. These things are evolving faster than you can imagine, faster than we can study them.”

“This was at a time — which continues — when year after year record high temperatures were (are) measured across our planet,” Reid said on the Facebook video clip.

Let that sink in.

Now I know all my bright, educated environmentalist friends — at least the ones who can afford to pay for it — are going to read the New York Times today to see how they are covering Earth Day. I read it too.

“The original wave of coast-to-coast demonstrations in 1970 not only transformed American priorities, leading to landmark legislation like the Clean Air Act, but helped shape the modern global environmental movement,” the Times says in its lede.

But for those who can’t afford to or refuse to pay for it, here’s the summary:

“In the past half-century, air and water pollution have plummeted in the United States, the bald eagle is no longer endangered, and environmental laws pioneered in America have set a model for nations around the world. But since then, other threats have grown, including climate change, tropical deforestation and a staggering loss of global biodiversity,” the Times reports. “Here is a look at what’s gotten better and what’s gotten worse in the five decades since millions of people marched to demand a cleaner, healthier environment.”

50 Years of Earth Day: What’s Better Today, and What’s Worse

In case you missed it, however, we reported this on Monday.

“At this sobering time in Earth history, perhaps we should take a moment on this milestone 50th anniversary of Earth Day to reflect a little on where we are as a people in our relationship to the planet.”

On the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, Public Views on the Environmental Movement Are Mixed

Now there are lots of people I could quote today in talking about where we are and where me might be headed, but I want to introduce some of you to one of my favorite members of Congress, Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Greenbelt Maryland, second in command in the House to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Coincidentally, I had the pleasure of meeting him in person on the streets of Greenbelt a few years back while waiting on the Labor Day parade to start. I had taken some time off and volunteered with the National Park Service at Greenbelt National Park. The Labor Day event is a big deal there in a town founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, with affordable housing for federal employees.

I will always be grateful to Mr. Hoyer and his staff for getting me a when none of my Alabama representatives in Congress in would help.

Well, you know how the president and his conservative buddies like to talk about the “Deep State?”

Here, meet one of the men who runs the deep state. This so-called “deep state” is the United States federal government, and it is made up of all the people who work in all the federal agencies in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area, mainly Maryland but also Virginia.

This is “the swamp” Trump talked about in the campaign. These are just some of the people he is putting out of work, claiming to “make America great again.”

The representatives in Congress in that area are not just nationally connected members who fly back to far away districts on the weekends and holidays. They are locally connected. You know what former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil said about “all politics is local,” right?

Here’s some of what he said on this day in a statement issued to his constituents and the press.

“Fifty years ago, we celebrated the first Earth Day, hopeful that Americans could lead the way in stopping the dangerous pollution dirtying our air, water, and wildlife habitats. In the decades since, we have had significant victories – ​with the passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, ​and the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as the signing of international agreements like the Montreal Protocol and the Paris Agreement. ​The air we breathe and water we drink is cleaner, and our economy has grown, yet more work remains,” he said.

“Since that time, we have also seen the rise ​and urgency of a climate crisis that threatens all nations ​with rising sea levels, drought, wildfires, and more-frequent and severe weather. We are also living at a time when denial of basic science is rampant, and the Trump Administration dangerously ignores the reality of the climate crisis and is ceding American leadership to other nations while rolling back protections for air, water, and public health,” he added.

“As we continue to confront the ​coronavirus pandemic, let us remember that the same factors driving climate change also put more people at risk from respiratory diseases​, like COVID-19. A global challenge requires a global response, which is why we must work across borders to protect our planet and safeguard the most vulnerable from climate change and natural disasters. That’s why House Democrats passed H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, last year in order to reaffirm the principles of the Paris Global Climate Agreement after President Trump withdrew the United States from that accord. It’s why we must also push for America to work in concert with the rest of the world in combatting coronavirus and ensuring that critical, life-saving resources are available to all those who need them,” he continued.

“House Democrats will not rest as long as this Administration threatens our air, water, and the health of this planet. We will continue to pursue bold initiatives to protect public health and mitigate the effects of climate change. Fifty years after the first Earth Day, we are as resolute as ever in our determination that America must lead the way to protect this planet we share and ensure that it can ​continue to sustain humanity for generations to come.”

Where is the public official or political candidate in my home state of Alabama talking like this?

Well there’s one, U.S. Senator Doug Jones, the Democrat from Birmingham. This statement came out in the afternoon, after we went to press in the morning.

“Ten years ago, Alabama and the rest of the Gulf Coast spent Earth Day in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” he says in a campaign release. “We in Alabama saw the very real effects of an environmental disaster on our health and our economy.

“Especially in these uncertain times, clean water and clean air are vital. Conservation isn’t partisan,” he added. “When it comes down to it, we really do all want the same things. No matter who you are or where you live, you need safe water, clean air to breathe, and an environment we all share.”

His campaign says Senator Jones has been working for all of these things – and has been a conservation champion since before he was elected to the Senate.

“That’s why he’s working to make sure all Alabamians, no matter how much money they have, who they are, or where they live, have access to clean water, according to the statement. “He’s the only person running for Senate in Alabama who is endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters.”

“Clean air and clean water are not controversial. They are essential to our health, our prosperity, and our quality of life,” Jones has said many times in the past.

He’s right, according to the campaign.

“We’ve seen how essential these things are before, in communities everywhere. What we saw ten years ago in the Gulf makes it clear: we have to take care of our environment, and we need leaders who will stand up for not only conservation, but for basic human rights like clean air and clean water.”

So there is one.

Until everybody starts talking about it, all the time, we are going to keep stumbling backwards until we totally blow it and destroy this place. There’s no doubt the Earth will survive for millions of years from now. The cockroaches, the ants and other creatures will make it. They will be around long after we’re gone, to our graves or outer space.

The question is, will we? It’s sort of up to “the people.” All I can do is humbly tell the story and put it out there on the web and share it on Facebook.

I know deep down and from many years of experience that democracy doesn’t work without an independent free press. It also doesn’t work if people don’t get involved to help.