Earth Day 40

In the forty years since the first Earth Day, much progress has been made environmentally. The open and flippant pollution by industries and individuals is no longer looked at as normal because of that first Earth Day starting the process of stigmatizing such behavior. Many governmental policies and programs, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, occurred in the three years following the 1970 Earth Day. The original Earth Day taught us what a group of motivated, organized, passionate, everyday people can achieve when united. It showed us that our government will respond when forced to do so by its people. While these are important strides, the amount of progress since then is dismal when compared to how far we have to go.

The achievements of the first Earth Day have had great effects in the United States, but the problem of climate change is obviously global. Therefore, it is overdue that action be taken to address the global nature of this problem. Placing a price on carbon is the first step toward doing this. The potential effects cannot be overstated. If the US adjusts the marketplace to include the externalities of carbon release, the rest of the world will likely follow. The major emitters need to be financially responsible for the effects their actions are having on the environment.

Earth Day was primarily organized as a political movement, to gain national attention and place political pressure for change. Today, we need to re-focus on the political side of environmentalism. This is a non-partisan issue. The future of human civilization is bigger than any petty partisan politics. Next week, a bipartisan energy and jobs bill will be presented in the Senate that will propose a carbon pricing system. Sponsored by Kerry (D), Graham (R), and Lieberman (I), it will be the most important piece of legislation in recent history, as it has the potential to alter our country's and our world's trajectory.

We can either sit by and wait for other countries to take the first major steps toward rescuing our future, or we can choose to continue to be the leaders of the Free World. This is the time to make your voice heard. This is the moment we must stand up and tell our elected officials what is right and what needs to be done. This bill must pass and become law. While it will not be perfect, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We need a price on carbon. Period.