by MARGARET KIMBERLEY
April 22nd is Earth Day, and as it approaches it is important to remember how this event came about. Far from the image of tree hugging mystics, the environmental movement was born as a political one. In 1969 millions of people took to the streets and demanded that their government protect them and their environment from industrial polluters. Members of congress, the so-called “dirty dozen” were targeted for defeat in 1970 and in fact seven of the twelve did lose.
Republican president Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency and declared himself an environmental president. Now that the 42nd Earth Day approaches, the dangers of global climate change are worse than any calamity that was imagined in the 1960s and 1970s.
New studies show that the extent of the crisis is so severe that the very notion of an Earth able to support life is in danger. The Gulf Stream, the flow of air and water which allows the United Kingdom and other northern European nations to be livable, is growing colder. Melting glaciers are sending fresh water into the ocean and lowering temperatures to such an extent that the Gulf Stream may cease to exist. The dangers caused by rising temperatures will incinerate Africa and other parts of the earth unless something is done quickly.
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