By John Mecklin, April 22, 2020
I live in Santa Barbara, where a 1969 offshore oil rig blowout served as one of the catalytic events for the creation of Earth Day. I can still see stains from that vast oil spill on rocks up and down the beaches near my home, so I don’t need much reminding that Earth Day remains relevant, 50 years after it began. If you do need a quick recap of that relevance, this short film by the Outrider Foundation is a pretty good Wayback Machine for reliving the founding ethos of the Earth Day movement, as explained by Tia Nelson, managing director, climate, at Outrider and daughter of Gaylord Nelson, a former US senator from Wisconsin who was a driving force in the creation of Earth Day. The film also offers a current-day perspective on Earth Day via Varshini Prakash, a cofounder of the Sunrise Movement, a youth group focused on climate change.
Nelson and Prakash seem to share a dedication to bipartisanship that has been largely lost in recent decades of US environmentalism. Younger readers who find it hard to believe such a bipartisan approach to environmental concerns is possible might pause this film at the 3:09 mark and ponder a remarkable image: a Republican president, Richard Nixon, in the act of creating the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The Bulletin elevates expert voices above the noise. But as an independent, nonprofit media organization, our operations depend on the support of readers like you. Help us continue to deliver quality journalism that holds leaders accountable. Your support of our work at any level is important. In return, we promise our coverage will be understandable, influential, vigilant, solution-oriented, and fair-minded. Together we can make a difference.