April 22, 2010 marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. I reflected on the stories of the first earth day initiated by Gaylord Nelson. The atmosphere was much different back then with environmentalists organizing national “teach-ins” in the United States to educate the public and companies about environmental issues. People boycotted companies blaming them and consumerism for much of the harm caused to the planet. Today, earth day has entered the mainstream and is celebrated everywhere including the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This is a celebration that there is finally a market for environmental goods and services, brought about through a decades long battle waged by environmentally conscious citizens wanting a cleaner planet through responsible consumerism. While we all took one day to celebrate the earth this year as we do every year, I chose not to express my thoughts on April 22nd, 2010. Instead, I’ve chosen days later to make a point: earth day should be every day. Though it serves as an important reminder to us about our planet, earth day as we have come to know it was initiated at a crucial point at the start of the modern environmental movement. Today, we need more than just one day, we need each and every day. We have to embody the spirit of the planet in every decision that we make.
Just two days ago I sat across the table from Donald Worster, considered to be the father of the discipline of environmental history. I could not help but think about the history of mankind’s relationship to the planet. I read with great curiosity about Earth Day and the United States’ struggle to come to terms with its domestic environmental challenges. No, there are no burning Cuyahoga Rivers today, and the legendary smogs of the 1960’s in the United States are a distant memory. And yet while the US can claim to have won many battles domestically, it has failed to address many global problems (the Montreal Protocol being the exception). Many say that history repeats itself. Thousands of miles away, rising economies like India, China and Brazil are struggling to ensure that they do not repeat the same mistakes of the United States in their efforts to “industrialize.” I am not sure that they are succeeding. Maybe we in India are only taking history lessons from the industrial era or industrialized places.
Humans have been known to create healthier environments in some parts of the world. Many indigenous communities in the Amazon and in parts of Africa have been known to increase nutrient contents of soils in the areas they inhabit thereby creating “dark earths.” These nutrient rich areas can have greater diversity of flora and fauna as compared to the surrounding environment. This is an example of environmental infrastructuring: changing the natural environment for the betterment of not only the community but for the ecosystem at large. It could be argued that without the presence of these communities the ecological diversity might be lower and that humans are in a sense functioning like key stone species–vital to the environment.
When was the last time that you could say that we humans are vital to the survival of planet earth? BBC recently had an interview with scientist James Lovelock where he stated that saving the planet is a “lot of nonsense. If it’s going to be saved, it will do so itself, as it always has.” He distinguishes this very clearly from the saving of human civilization on planet earth and the saving of the planet itself. In a recent research project I have learned about the work of a member of the IPCC, Professor Lindzen of MIT, and his hypothesis of an “Iris Effect.” The hypothesis is remarkable in that it suggests that in response to the increased global temperature from climate change, the planet is producing less cirrus clouds (the thin ones high in the atmosphere) that are vital to the flux of the planet’s heat radiation. In a sense the planet is attempting to regulate its own temperature in response to climate change. Tying this into Lovelock’s famous “Gaia hypothesis,” we can see how the planet may be functioning as a living breathing organism. At first I became excited at the thought that we may be out of the climate disaster and that there may be hope after all. But unfortunately, Lindzen does not account for the fact that the increased heat will make glaciers and ice caps melt resulting in rising ocean levels. Yes, perhaps with time the planet may resume some sort of a new balance, but not in my life time. Probably not in the life time of many generations to come.
The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland recently serves as a very important reminder to us of the power of nature. Having grounded all flights out of northern Europe, that volcano has disrupted life for millions, yet given us greater pause as to the power of the planet than any one day out of the year possibly could. No. There is nothing wrong with Earth Day. However the challenge that confronts us requires us to celebrate the spirit of the earth every day through all our decisions. The challenge forces us to think about how we might serve as key stone species, vital to the planet’s biodiversity, not vice versa. That is how we make the most of our remaining days on earth. Happy Earth Day: May 1, 2010.