Earth is over the hill...

Well, at least her day is. (Pardon the easy pun, but punny is what I do.)

In 1969, Wisconsin politician Gaylord Nelson and thousands of demonstrators on college campuses brought a public and political platform for environmental issues and the movement propelling solutions. In 1970, Earth Day became official and is now celebrated by millions in every country around the world.

So at the top of Earth Day's hill, what do we see?
I see a world of volunteers, a continued commitment to action from young people across college campuses and around the world, and a continued struggle for peoples around the world to have access to a natural, healthy environment.

As a country, we have come a long way.

In the early 70's, we created the Environmental Protection Agency, enacted groundbreaking laws (Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act) and, as a country, took action to create solutions to immediately curb our environmentally destructive behaviors.

In the 80's, millions of acres were designated protected wilderness and the movement built momentum.

In the 90's, the movement to reduce, reuse and recycle came to the forefront. The environmental outlook also took on a more global perspective, looking at the preservation of not only U.S. land, but also rainforests and other wild places that were (are) threatened by human economic "growth".

So where are we today? We are not dumping ALL of our trash into our waterways, have developed protocols to dispose of toxic materials and have preserved lands to maintain the wild of this world. But there is still a great struggle to sustain those accomplishments and move forward.

Today, we are faced with an unbelievable global situation and a hard question to answer: what do we do when the entire planet, including every community of the United States, is endangered through our actions, through our imbalance with the world's natural ecosystems?

Our unstable, unsustainable energy structure is threatening the health of our planet, including ... us. Humans are at great risk and not just in the most vulnerable communities of the far north, coasts and small island states.

Here in the Midwest, we are heavily dependent on coal for our energy sources -- Wisconsin alone gets 70% of its energy from coal. The founding state of Earth Day has the ability to create FIVE TIMES the amount of energy needed to power its own state needs from renewable energy sources alone! So why do we continue to ship $21 million tax dollars out of the state every year for non-renewable sources that harm our communities' people and environment? We lack the political will & clout to move us forward.

So this Earth Day, pick up trash, plant a garden and ride your bike... but you also need to call your Senators, send a thank you to your representative, write your local reps and figure out how we can stand true to our environmental legacy here in Wisconsin, around the U.S., and around the world.

Earth Day has reached the top of her hill, but she's not ready to go down yet... and neither am I.