Page 25 - 201004 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2010

April 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 22/04/2010 11:27 PM Page 25 Earth Day? So What! 25 Earth Day? So what? Green activists say we still need it after 40 years By VANCE LEHMKUHL Philadelphia Daily News OMG, YOU HEARD about that "Climategate" thing, right? Yeah, turns out the whole global warming thing is a big hoax - the scientists in charge were totally making the whole thing up and stopping anybody else from getting the word out! "Going green" turns out to be based on a big scam! As overblown as this locution is, it's what many people are hearing and reading on the Internet. Let's suppose, for a moment, that this denialist fantasy is true: Climate change is all a bunch of hokum. There's no imminent planetary disaster we need to worry about stopping. So what about Earth Day, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this week. If there is no global warming, is Earth Day still relevant? A look back to 1970 provides some perspective. That first Earth Day had nothing to do with climate change: It was about the simple premise that we needed to change our attitude toward the land we live on, the water we drink and the air we breathe - that we needed to show respect for the stuff that we depend on. and you're creating insulation that skilled Despite the early headlines, the "Climategate" So global warming aside, we could people can install. Doing that is a 'green' scientists have now been cleared of wrongdoing probably still learn a couple of things from the contribution in itself, but doing it with by their respective investigations, the consensus "old school" version of Earth Day. insulation offers even more impact." among the world's scientific body holds steady Edward Furia, project director for And, Glover said, "we can manufacture and the temperature keeps climbing - globally, Philly's original event, agreed. locally many things we now import from far March 2010 was the hottest March on record. "There are issues that were front and away - that's a very sustainable move." So whether or not you participate in any center in 1970 that are still very much out there: Glover also cites the relatively low-cost special events (see box) to mark Earth Day's Water quality is one of them - people are still "cool roof" - painting your rooftop white to 40th anniversary, it's still an opportunity to dying in large numbers from diseases they get keep your energy costs down throughout the renew the commitment and promise of the 1970 from bad water." And even after the passage of summer - and "green roofs," planting a garden event. the Clean Water Act, there's still water pollution or other foliage up there to absorb the sunlight As Glover said, "our children deserve right here in the United States. and turn it into something useful. And as befits cities as beautiful as they are."[] Furia, now the CEO of AFS Trinity a man who generates urban orchards, Glover Power Corp., also pointed out that for all the urged, "Plant more trees!" Besides trees' hype about fossil fuels and carbon, the need to aesthetic quality in the city, "they correlate to a "wean ourselves off of foreign oil" is a simple, reduction of crime, and they offer shade to cool pragmatic and urgent goal, regardless of what people off." happens in the upper atmosphere. "There is Overall, Glover said, we can "get busy simply not sufficient oil to serve the needs of rebuilding American cities to a balance of China, India and the United States," he said. nature, creating millions of jobs in the process. "We are headed for a collision with China over This is a mission more urgent, immediate and competition for resources." fun than fighting wars and going to the moon." So if these big problems are still Glover has accomplished much on a lingering, what should we be doing? Eco- neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, while activist and "Philadelphia Orchard Project" Furia has worked more in conjunction with founder Paul Glover said that "Philly welcomes government initiatives, but both stressed that it's dozens of new initiatives every month that crucial to join forces with each other rather than HIGH: Confessions Of An lower cost of living and eating while cleaning trying to achieve the greenest individual International Drug Smuggler the water and the air." lifestyle. He should know. Glover's "Green Jobs "These problems are so big," Furia said, Philly" newsletter has galvanized the local "they have to be confronted on an institutional green scene, connecting skilled people with basis." He suggests that the biggest individual positions and serving as a bulletin board for all contribution we can make is to cast an informed kinds of sustainability info. He stressed that vote, but he also pointed me to a chart showing there are plenty of untapped opportunities, how much water is consumed by various daiy many that are more meaningful and useful than activities. sorting your recyclables or changing your "The environmental crisis has many lightbulbs. headlines," noted Glover, "but the green "I'd like to see a Philly insulation movement is far bigger" than just climate factory," he said. "Empty warehouses, change. newspapers, fire retardant: Put them together Which takes us back to global warming. www.brianodea.com