Earth Day 2019: Where We Are and Where We Need To Go

Earth Day, 2019.

So much to say. Worse, so much to do.

49 years ago today, we had the first Earth Day. People could look around, and they did, to see we had polluted our planet horribly and still were. Rivers were catching fire, literally, from what we poured and dumped into them and our air was filthy. You could not just see it, the air, you could see the filth we dumped and were dumping into that. We called it a nice, polite word we could live with. That is, smog.

So we got smart.

We passed laws, clean air and water laws. We worked together.

And it worked.

Our air is cleaner now than it used to be. Our waterways got cleaner. Rivers stopped catching on fire.

Now, however, there is a man supposed to be leading our nation, he and his political party are taking us backward. They're undoing some of those laws. The old fool wants to take us back to foul, dirty, literally killing coal.  Here are two examples.

Complete Wiping Away of Clean Water Act': Trump EPA Rule Would Free Corporations to Pollute Nation's Water Much as They Please

Trump pressures TVA to keep old coal power plant running

It's insane, it's certainly irresponsible but it's who he is and what he wants. 

We had to fight once for all this and we won. Then, there was the hole in the ozone layer. We learned what the problem was, we fought it, we worked together, we corrected our actions, our production and use of chlorfluorocarbons, CFCs and fixed it.

Now, there is an even bigger problem.

We, as a people, all across the world, are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, at unheard of rates, with our cars and burning coal, etc., and we're heating up the planet. Nearly all scientists, across the world, agree on this. The data shows we are.

The data also shows the ice caps and glaciers across the planet are melting--and at rapid, unheard of rates--we're experiencing ever-hotter years, year after year, across the globe and we're experiencing destructive, even killing weather events worldwide. From floods to drought to wildfires, we're already there.

But corporations and the political parties they can buy want to derail efforts to move from fossil fuels, toward "green", sustainable energy.

Fortunately, the people and technology are against these people and their efforts.

Battery Costs Drop Even Faster As Electric Car Sales Continue To Rise

A Majority of Americans Want the Federal Government to do More to Protect Air and Water

So what this all boils down to is that we must wait this man in the White House out, work against his agenda(s), him and his party, work, fight for clean air and water and soil and not let our guard down.

For a while, with this man in the White House and his political party controlling the Senate, we'll have to fight him and them but fight we must. Fortunately, we have science and data and logic, common sense--and our survival--on our side.