How the Environment Has Changed Since the First Earth Day When the first Earth Day was held in 1970, pesticides were killing bald eagles, and soot was darkening the sky. Now, habitat loss and climate change are imperiling the planet. By Sarah Gibbens Published April 21, 2018 • 5 min read
Full Answer
How has the environment changed in the 48 years?
In the 48 years since the first Earth Day, there have been more than 48 major environmental wins. Protections have been put in place on everything from clean water to endangered species. The EPA also works to protect human health. For example, lead and asbestos, once common in homes and offices, have been largely phased out of many common products.
How does health care affect the environment?
Assessing the environmental effect of health care (including public health) through population growth, and the potential of health development to help slow population growth. Mitigation of the contribution of healthcare to global environmental change
What are the main causes of environmental changes?
There are many causes of environmental changes on Earth. Natural events cause changes in climate. For example, large volcanic eruptions release tiny particles into the atmosphere that block sunlight, resulting in surface cooling that lasts for a few years.
How have public health perceptions of environmental problems changed?
Environmental problems, and our perceptions of their current and future health effects, have changed over the decades. About 20–40 years back, public health was most concerned about localised environmental degradation, as exemplified by air and water pollution.
What are the changes in our environment?
Increased heat, drought and insect outbreaks, all linked to climate change, have increased wildfires. Declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns.
What are some examples of environmental changes?
An example of environmental change include:Scarcity of water.Rise in temperature.Rise in global warming.Disturbance in the food chain.Changes in climatic conditions.The decline of forests and wildlife.Increase in CO2 in the atmosphere.Less rainfall or change in pattern of rainfall.
What are 4 environmental changes?
Major changes such as land subsidence, climate change, habit alteration, water quality, population growth, water exports, invasion by nonnative species, and in-delta physical changes will continue to change the delta during the current century and beyond.
What are the possible solutions to environmental change?
Changing our main energy sources to clean and renewable energy is the best way to stop using fossil fuels. These include technologies like solar, wind, wave, tidal and geothermal power. Switch to sustainable transport. Petrol and diesel vehicles, planes and ships use fossil fuels.
How has the environment changed over time?
Earth's climate has changed dramatically many times since the planet was formed 4.5 billion years ago. These changes have been triggered by the changing configuration of continents and oceans, changes in the Sun's intensity, variations in the orbit of Earth, and volcanic eruptions.
What are the effects of environmental changes on living things?
Organisms have evolved features (structures and behaviors) that make them well adapted to tackle the challenges of the environment they live in. Changes in an organism's environment may result in death, migration, or survival of a few well-adapted individuals in the population.
What is harming the environment the most?
Global warming is arguably the greatest cause of impact on the environment. The largest of causes emanating through CO₂ levels from respiration to more detrimental causes like burning fossil fuels and deforestation. At any rate, humans are consistently increasing CO₂ levels globally- every year.
What is environmental changes and challenges?
Global environmental challenges, such as impacts of climate change, loss of biodiversity, over-use of natural resourcesand environmental and health issues, are critically linked to issues of poverty and the sustainability of ecosystems, and consequently, issues of resource security and political stability.
What is destroying the environment?
The loss of ecosystems is caused mainly by changes in land and sea use, exploitation, climate change, pollution and the introduction of invasive species. Some things have a direct impact on nature, like the dumping of waste into the ocean.
How do we reduce the negative effects of climate change?
Put a price on carbon.End fossil fuel subsidies.Build low-carbon, resilient cities.Increase energy efficiency and use of renewable energy.Implement climate-smart agriculture and nurture forest landscapes.
What are five things governments can do to help the environment?
Things the government can do to help the environmentEncourage Environmentally Friendly Employee Practices. ... Making Environmentally Friendly Changes in Local Government Facilities. ... Foster Clean Commute Initiatives. ... Software Solutions Help to Reduce the Local Government Carbon Footprint.
Which is a solution to reduce the progress of climate change?
What solutions to consider? Changing our main energy sources to clean and renewable energy. Solar, Wind, Geothermal and biomass could be the solution. Our transport methods must be aligned with environmental requirements and reduce their carbon footprint.
How many tons of trash were dumped in landfills in 1990?
That amount is, at least, a slight decline from the 145.3 million tons dumped in landfills in 1990. It is clear that the U.S. and the world have made strides in realizing humanity’s impact and the need to safeguard the environment. But there is still a long way to go.
What was the Clean Air Act of 1970?
Congress passed various laws to limit air pollution in the ensuing years, but the Clean Air Act of 1970 was the landmark legislation that truly ushered in the stringent and comprehensive regulation of emissions from power plants, factories and cars.
Climate
The clear, inexorable rises of the curves in the two graphs below are at the heart of the global warming problem. As humans have piled more cars onto roads and burned more coal and natural gas for electricity, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily ticked upward.
Air Pollution
Among the fundamental issues that drove Nelson and his colleagues to hold the first Earth Day was the rampant, deadly pollution clogging U.S. skies.
Water
Perhaps the most emblematic moment of the crisis that afflicted U.S. waterways was the fire that erupted on the Cuyahoga River on June 22, 1969. Effluent from industrial activity along the river, running from Akron, Ohio, to Cleveland, had provided fuel for more than a dozen fires since the mid-19th century and killed off the waterway’s fish.
Waste
Americans are producing a lot more garbage than they did 50 years ago—and not just because the country’s population has risen: each person in the U.S. generates an average of 4.5 pounds of waste a day, compared with just 3.25 pounds in 1970. What they throw away has also changed, with plastic waste making up a larger percentage than in the past.
How many tons of trash were dumped in landfills in 1990?
That amount is, at least, a slight decline from the 145.3 million tons dumped in landfills in 1990. It is clear that the U.S. and the world have made strides in realizing humanity’s impact and the need to safeguard the environment. But there is still a long way to go.
What was the Clean Air Act of 1970?
Congress passed various laws to limit air pollution in the ensuing years, but the Clean Air Act of 1970 was the landmark legislation that truly ushered in the stringent and comprehensive regulation of emissions from power plants, factories and cars.
Is the EPA taking action to weaken air pollution?
Many environmentalists and scientists who study air pollution are concerned that the considerable progress over the past 50 years might be stalled—or even reversed—by actions the EPA has taken during the Trump administration to weaken air pollution rules and enforcement.
What are the causes of environmental changes?
Environmental Changes. There are many causes of environmental changes on Earth. Natural events cause changes in climate. For example, large volcanic eruptions release tiny particles into the atmosphere that block sunlight, resulting in surface cooling that lasts for a few years. Variations in ocean currents such as El Ni ñ o can also change ...
How have humans impacted the environment on the Moon?
Although human-induced changes to Earth's environment are increasingly apparent, humans have also altered the environment of the Moon and the neighboring planets in very small ways. The footprints left by Apollo astronauts and atmospheric gases released by their landing craft produced infinitesimal alterations in the Moon's environment. Similarly, tire tracks and shallow trenches left on the surface of Mars by landers, such as Pathfinder and Viking, have changed the environment of that planet on a minute scale. However, greater environmental changes are almost inevitable as humans venture into the solar system.
What are the causes of desertification?
One root cause of desertification and deforestation is the use of wood as the basic source of energy, with the consequent loss of trees and degradation of the soil . The most obvious impact of desertification is the degradation of rangeland and irrigated cropland and the decline in soil fertility and soil structure.
When did ozone decrease?
Around 1985 scientists taking ozone (O 3) measurements in the Antarctic detected an alarming decrease in stratospheric ozone concentrations over the South Pole. This decline in atmospheric ozone was verified by instruments aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA)'s Nimbus-7 satellite.
Does ultraviolet radiation destroy ozone?
Under usual circumstances ultraviolet radiation helps create and destroy ozone molecules. It is strong enough to break both ozone and oxygen molecules into individual oxygen atoms. This destruction of molecules allows the free oxygen atoms to bond with other oxygen molecules and form more ozone.
Do humans have to terraform to be more Earth-like?
Colonization of other worlds will affect those environments, but humans may also undertake the premeditated terraforming of planets to deliberately make them more Earth-like.
Climate
The clear, inexorable rises of the curves in the two graphs below are at the heart of the global warming problem. As humans have piled more cars onto roads and burned more coal and natural gas for electricity, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily ticked upward.
Air Pollution
Among the fundamental issues that drove Nelson and his colleagues to hold the first Earth Day was the rampant, deadly pollution clogging U.S. skies.
Water
Perhaps the most emblematic moment of the crisis that afflicted U.S. waterways was the fire that erupted on the Cuyahoga River June 22, 1969. Effluent from industrial activity along the river, running from Akron, Ohio, to Cleveland, had provided fuel for more than a dozen fires since the mid-19th century and killed off the waterway's fish.
Waste
Americans are producing a lot more garbage than they did 50 years ago — and not just because the country's population has risen: Each person in the U.S. generates an average of 4.5 pounds (2 kilograms) of waste a day, compared with just 3.25 pounds (1.4 kilograms) in 1970.
What is the agency that protects the environment?
Pushed in part by this strong showing, Congress created a federal agency that’s still working to protect the environment today: the Environmental Protection Agency . Many things have changed in the 50 years since, but Earth Day remains a major day for environmental education and advocacy. Earth Day 2020 admittedly looks a little different due ...
How much has air pollution decreased since 1990?
A paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that air pollution from manufacturing has decreased as well — 60 percent between 1990 and 2008. Overall, even as the population, the economy, the number of cars on the road, and energy consumption grew, the total emissions of toxic air pollutants dropped.
What are the pollutants that the EPA tracked?
From 1980 to 2018, the concentration of carbon monoxide fell by 73 percent, lead fell by 99 percent, nitrogen dioxide fell by 62 percent, and sulfur dioxide fell by 90 percent. 2. Safer, cleaner water.
How much trash was diverted from landfills in 1970?
By the 1990s, technology caught up and pollution control equipment kept emissions in check and made combustion once again an option — this time without so much air and water pollution. Less than 500,000 tons of trash was diverted from landfills and turned into energy in 1970, compared to 34 million tons in 2017.
What was the recycling rate in 1960?
In 1960, the recycling rate was only seven percent . Today, it’s more than 35 percent. That number doesn’t reflect where we could be, however, or the most efficient recyclers in the nation. The first container deposit law passed in Oregon just a year after the first Earth Day, which set the standard.
How much money has been spent on water pollution?
Since then, more than $1 trillion has been spent to correct water pollution in the US. The number of waters safe for fishing grew by 12 percent between 1972 and 2001, according to a 2019 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics.
What are the positive trends in the United States since the first Earth Day?
Here are some positive trends in the United States since that first Earth Day 50 years ago. 1. Substantially less toxic air. The concentration of three major pollutants — nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead — has decreased considerably since the first data in 1980, according to Scientific American. The first two are harmful ...