It was 1970, eight years after Rachel Carson’s seminal book, “Silent Spring,” that the first Earth Day was held. Carson’s book documented how the indiscriminate use of pesticides and turning a blind eye to the environment presented a looming shadow of danger to the planet.
An example Carson wrote about was a finding that birds ingesting DDT produced thin-shelled eggs that would crack prematurely thus reducing the population and creating a natural imbalance in the ecosystem.
The book showed the demonstrable effects chemical agents used in agriculture to make crops more resistant and harvests more plentiful could work their way up the food chain until they reached the apex—humans. The result, deadly illnesses, birth defects and a host of other quality of life issues.
“Silent Spring” is often credited for being the spark that ignited what we know today as the environmental movement. For many, including Metropolitan State University-Denver Professor Richard Wagner, Carson’s warning is even more important today than when she first sounded the alarm more than a half century earlier.
“What we are witnessing is just the tip of the iceberg,” said the MSU-Denver meteorologist. Wagner’s iceberg reference is not simply metaphorical. Melting icebergs have raised water levels worldwide resulting in more dangerous hurricanes and typhoons, added to coastal flooding in lowlying areas and also have had an impact on insect, bird and animal life. They have also had political and economic repercussions.
Scientists say that carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the burning of fossil fuel has led to rising ocean temperatures that today threaten the very existence of the planet. Uncontrolled use of fossil fuels and other gases, including methane and nitrous oxide, will continue to deplete the ozone, earth’s natural defense against the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
The MSU-Denver career meteorologist also said climate change is responsible for “unprecedented heatwaves and wildfires,” wildfires that may be only months away as summer heat closes in across the West.
Australia’s Great Coral Reef, one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, is testament to the threat posed by fossil fuels and ever warming ocean temperatures. By some estimates, as much as a fourth of all marine species depend on coral reefs. NASA estimates Earth’s current rate of warming is now at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years.
Colorado sits in the path of potential wildfire havoc with huge swaths of high country today reduced to kindling by pine beetles who are now surviving through historically warmer winter temperatures. Millions of acres of U.S. forests remain under the same threat.
Winter temperatures that normally would have frozen and killed pine beetles are now warmer allowing the vora- cious insects to survive and move into new high-country acreage and resume their devastating march. A simple lightning strike can potentially spell an aimless destruction that has neither timetable nor respect for borders.
Earth Day 2024, said Wagner, represents a reminder to “think about the many amazing treasures of the natural world that are under threat from pollution, disrespect for the land, and now climate change.
But climate change, he said, manifests itself in not only the things we see but other ways, too. “The cost of respond- ing to disasters will lead to higher taxes and insurance rates.” A number of insurance carriers have already stopped issuing policies in Florida for homes and autos citing the costs to rebuild or replace for the decision.
At MSU-Denver, Earth Day 2024 will stretch beyond a single day, said Wagner. It will be Earth Week and include a Platte River cleanup, a call to use alternate transit to campus and a hands-on family science activities day at the Dia de la Tierra Community Celebration at the National Western Center on April 20th.
Earth Day is not only a reminder of the price for not paying attention to the various environmental warnings, said Kelsey Simkins, but also a time to celebrate and acknowledge some of the positive steps that have been taken over the last several decades.
While Denver may not have coined the term ‘brown cloud,’ so named in the late 1970’s when the city—and much of the Front Range—was ringed by an unmistakable and unsightly layer of pollution, things have improved dramatically, though not perfectly.
Kelsey Simpkins, communications and programs coordinator for the Regional Air Quality Council, a non-governmental agency that monitors air quality in nine Front Range counties, said we are moving in the right direction. “We have made a lot of progress on the Front Range…we should be very proud.
But, because of the geographic and topographic realties of the Front Range—proximity to the mountains will always be a trap for bad air inversions in winter—clean air will always present a challenge. But federal mandates requiring catalytic converters on cars and local governments moving away from things as simple as eliminating sand on streets in winter after snowfalls, have had demonstrable and posi- tive benefits.
“If we had not done that, we would still be breathing much worse air today, our communities would be much less healthy and we would be struggling a lot more,” Simpkins said. Because of where we live, the reality is that there is no magic bullet.
“The nine-county (RAQC) range is out of attainment,” Simpkins concedes. “We are not currently meeting ground level ozone levels that the EPA requires.” More will have to be done and it may begin with each one doing their own part.
RACQ’s outreach program, “Simple Steps, Better Air,” emphasizes “driving less, carpooling, swapping the car for the bus, walking, biking or taking a scooter.” Other things, especially for parents, she said, include turning off your engine when “picking up your child after school, don’t idle.” Also consider switching to electric equipment and moving away from things like gas-powered lawn mowers. Little things add up.
“Change is scary,” she concedes. “Being asked to change elements of lifestyle” is not easy. “Humans can be fairly resistant.” But she reminds everyone that “there are benefits to change. I encourage people to have an open mind.”
