Fifty-five years after the first Earth Day, its success has been moderate at best. Though DDT was banned, the use of pesticides and herbicides remains widespread and pollution from plastics has become a much greater problem.
While the push toward green energy and a reduction in coal use are broadly evident, our reliance on fossil fuels has only increased. Climate change, the result of that reliance, is spawning severe weather events across the globe yet a significant proportion of the human population continues to deny its existence.
Here in the U.S., half of our citizens voted for individuals who ridicule concerns about global warming, who intend to eliminate a wide range of environmental safeguards and who favor reopening protected natural habitat for development. It is difficult to admit, but the message of Earth Day has been largely ignored by most Americans.
