Earth Day, Now and Then

1970-2010

On April 22, we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. As a witness to all of these events, ten years of serious academic studies, a book, numerous articles, debates and interviews, these are my observations.

The first Earth Day, in the spring of 1970, was powered to a great extent, by young Americans and college students. Many of whom, had turned out in huge numbers to protest the war in Vietnam. 


The first earth day officially kicked off at a conference in Seattle in September 1969 when Senator Gaylord Nelson announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric.

Five months before that first Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, the New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill, reporting on the astounding proliferation of environmental events planned;

"Rising concerns about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam. A national day of observation of environmental problems is being planned for next spring, when a nationwide environmental teach in, coordinated from the offices of Senator John Gaylord is planned.”

“Earth Day worked because of spontaneous response, at a grassroots level. Senator Nelson's office had neither the time nor the resources to organize the 20 million demonstrators in thousands of schools and local communities that participate.”

That was a remarkable thing about Earth Day, it organize itself. Earth Day began as a massive grassroots uprising to protest corporate and political corruption and demand change. And it worked.

It is clear, that the Earth Day evolution and the grassroots environmental movement behind it have been a resounding success. Clearly, it is been a motivating factor in the fight against many of the worst corporate polluters of our land, air and water.

But the corporate villains did not go softly into that good night. Even before those original protesters had picked up the litter from those first Earth Day gatherings, huge resources were being marshaled to hinder, delay, corrupt and defeat the movement’s long term objectives.

Backed by limitless corporate bank accounts, professional climate change deniers were hired and teamed with Madison Avenue public relation Gurus. Their mission was simply, obscure the truth. They produced countless misleading and fraudulent studies and arranged for them to be repeated endlessly. They knew that if they repeated these false facts often enough, some of the people would eventually begin to believe them.

The global warming debate, as presented, by a strangely complicit national media, is being fought by two distinct camps. On one side is every credible university climate department, along with virtually every climate scientist on the planet. In the other camp is a tiny group of well-financed dissenters. Almost all of whom have clear ties to the oil, gas and coal industry. Many of these dissenters are not even climate scientists.

These corporate misinformation campaigns are designed to give the illusion of a legitimate climate debate. In truth, the only purpose is to confuse, delay, and misdirect the public's perception away from challenges that must soon be faced to avoid global disaster. And it’s working.

That global warming and climate change are a real threat to all life on Earth is a certainty.

Is Earth Day, as a once a year event, enough to compete with the massive war-chest of the international corporate energy conglomerates and their hired henchmen in the media, Madison Avenue and politics?

What do you think?

It's a sad fact that these corporate giants cultivate lies and deceits, putting civilization as we know it and millions of lives at risk, for the sake of their bottom lines.

Here is an even sadder fact. In the age of the internet, when the facts are available to anyone with a computer or a library card, tens of millions of Americans choose to believe the corporation's self-serving fraudulent campaigns.



C.S Goldsmith is author of “UNINHABITABLE a case for caution,” available at Barnes & Noble. Goldsmith has spent over 10 years studying the Climate Change issue from the risk assessment perspective of the Insurance industry.

To schedule an interview with Craig Scott Goldsmith, please contact Robert Schechter at 212-499-6809.