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To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, a renowned lawyer and environmental activist advocated for the institution of drastic changes to United States environmental policy at Monona Terrace Wednesday.
Waterkeeper Alliance President Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is the son of former U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, has been one of the leading promoters of renewed energy policy in the last 25 years, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies Interim Director Gregg Mitman said.
Mitman said Kennedy is extremely qualified to contribute to a celebration of the first Earth Day due to his in-depth explorations of the meaning and impact of environmental problems on current and future societies.
Since the first Earth Day, environmental activists have continually striven to force people to realize nature is the infrastructure of community and is the source of the values, virtues and character of the people, Kennedy said.
He added if someone pollutes or destroys the natural surroundings, he or she is wrongfully stealing a possession of the whole community in order to generate a profit.
The coal and oil industries that commit these acts of theft not only produce environmental conditions that are seriously harmful to the U.S. population, but also permanently devastate natural landscapes, Kennedy said.
He emphasized these problems must be addressed immediately because if they are not, entire mountain ranges will be flattened and Americans will suffer from a continually higher frequency of congenital defects and other serious health problems.
Since the U.S. ranks number two in the world in solar energy potential, it could alter its energy policy without immense difficulty, yet the lack of true free-market capitalism inhibits that, Kennedy said.
“A true free market would force us to properly value our resources,” Kennedy said. “In a true free market, you can’t make yourself rich without making your neighbors rich and without enriching your community.”
Kennedy added alterations in environmental policy can also result in improvements to the national economic situation, which should be measured by its effectiveness of preserving the value of communal resources.
Kennedy’s father became a U.S. senator at the same time as Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, and Kennedy’s father shared a desk with the environmental activist.
Nelson could have never in his wildest dreams predicted the legacy his work and commitment would leave, as Earth Day was originally just a one-day teach-in to inspire awareness and appreciation of the earth’s environment, his daughter Executive Secretary of the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands Tia Nelson said.
“All of you have similar power, and I encourage you to use that power to make every day Earth Day,” Nelson said.
While the movement to change environmental policy is inspirational, it is going to take a lot of work and time from several people since many citizens may not desire to invest in something that does not have immediate benefits, said UW sophomore and Community Environmental Scholar Azaria Posik, who attended the lecture.
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Let’s celebrate Energy Day! As the economy grows, technology and creativity make it easier to clean the environment. It is not what the Stop Light Greens like RFK Jr. and the eco-profiteers say purport but we have done just that. It’s called ingenuity and the American people and an unfettered free market are chock-full of it.
Here are some facts to share with your friends and family about energy and the environment:
Almost one quarter of the world�s population, 1.4 billion people, do not have access to electricity. (Int�l Energy Agency)
Air quality continues to improve even as the economy grows and energy consumption increases. Since 1990 U.S. gross domestic product has increased by 64 percent, population has grown by 22 percent, and energy consumption has increased by 19 percent. At the same time, air pollution emissions have decreased by 41 percent. (Inst for Energy Research)
Americans use less energy per person today than in the 1970s, even though the economy has doubled in size. Today we drive more miles and have many more electronic gadgets and yet, energy use per person fell by 9 percent according to the Energy Information Administration. Also, since 1970, energy use per dollar of economic output has fallen by over 50 percent. (Dept. of Energy)
Today�s power plants are much cleaner than in the past. One factor in improving air quality has been the pollution-control technologies used by coal-fired power plants. Between 1970 and 2006, SO2 emissions in pounds per million Btu were reduced by almost 80 percent and NOx emissions in pounds per million Btu were reduced by over 70 percent. Between 1970 and 2006, total SO2 emissions were reduced by about 40 percent. Between 1980 and 2006, NOx emissions were reduced by almost 50 percent. (Inst for Energy Research)
The United States produced more oil in 1949 than it does today. This should not come as a surprise, since the federal government has only offered for lease 3 percent of federal lands and the Obama Administration continues to keep new offshore areas under lock and key. (Dept. of Energy)
Oh, you may be wondering what a “Stop Light Green” is. They are ‘Greens’ that are too Yellow to admit they are socialist Reds! Fits RFK Jr. perfectly……
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Kennedy also described being involved in a large scale project that is starting in Israel. Right now, a business group that Kennedy supports is installing electrical outlets for electric cars in every household in Israel. The company is GIVING the population electric cars across the entire country, and transforming their energy source dramatically. Then this group effort moves on to a contract to do a similar transformation in Denmark, then Toronto, and Hawaii. It is time for Wisconsin to get in line. We also need to support the building of an infrasturcture grid across the entire country to convey wind and solar electric energy to our entire country - which Kennedy states will be virtually free energy for the future, once the grid investment is accomplished. These are exciting projects on the SCALE needed to tranform our world to a safe energy economy. Let’s all get behind these efforts.
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As we celebrate the 40th anniversary, we should reflect on the foresight of it’s founders and compare their forecasts to those made by advocates today. They share the same strident tones and accuracy. Enjoy!
Earth Day Predictions, 1970 �We have about five more years at the outside to do something.� - Kenneth Watt, ecologist
�Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.� - George Wald, Harvard Biologist
�We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.� - Barry Commoner, Washington University biologist
�Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.� - New York Times editorial, the day after the first Earth Day
�Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.� - Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
�By�[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.� - Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
�It is already too late to avoid mass starvation.� - Denis Hayes, chief organizer for Earth Day
�Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions�.By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.� - Peter Gunter, professor, North Texas State University
�Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support�the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution�by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half�.� - Life Magazine, January 1970
�At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it�s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.� - Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
�Air pollution�is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone.� - Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
�We are prospecting for the very last of our resources and using up the nonrenewable things many times faster than we are finding new ones.� - Martin Litton, Sierra Club director
�By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate�that there won�t be any more crude oil. You�ll drive up to the pump and say, Fill �er up, buddy,� and he�ll say,I am very sorry, there isn�t any.�� - Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
�Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.� - Sen. Gaylord Nelson
�The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.� - Kenneth Watt, Ecologist