Two takes on Earth Day

Posted by Matthew Wheeland at 5:42 PM on April 21, 2006.

Tomorrow is Earth Day, once again. Time to get out your best pair of Birkenstocks and hempen hacky sack and go to the park. But a celebration that has for many years felt like little more than lefty back-patting has finally gained a bit more traction in the media, due in large part to our looming energy crisis, the obvious and increasing seriousness of global warming, and the ongoing desecration of our natural resources by the industrialists in the White House.

I was particularly struck this week by the wildly different tone that people take when discussing Earth Day, and more to the point, the future of our planet. A perfect example comes today, with a side-by-side comparison of the Christian Science Monitor and The Center for American Progress's Talking Points.

For those of you who don't already receive them, CAP's daily Talking Points newsletter offers a quick, concise and fact-filled rundown of the day's biggest issue, and is often an invaluable resource. Here's a paraphrase of today's talking points:

• Climate change is happening and we have only ourselves to blame.
• The air we breathe is still too dirty, and our wilderness lands are under constant threat.
• The environmental cause is bringing together an unlikely group of activists.

For comparison's sake, here's a snippet from an article by Brad Knickerbocker in the Monitor. He writes:

• Air pollution has decreased 50 percent overall, with sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides dropping steadily.
• Lakes in the Northeast are recovering from their earlier dousing with acid rain.
• Endangered species, including bald eagles, wolves, and grizzly bears, have rebounded.
• Cars no longer burn leaded gasoline.
• Ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have been generally phased out.

It's in sharp contrast to the first Earth Day in 1970 when there were signs of serious trouble.

At first glance, I'd be inclined to go with the hopeful scenario over the gloom 'n' doom writ large in the Talking Points. On closer inspection, however, Knickerbocker is applying a fine coat of varnish to what is undeniably a dire situation. He quotes an American Enterprise Institute expert, a boilerplate PR plug from the EPA, and for balance a quote from a Natural Resources Defense Council rep.

On the whole, Knickerbocker looks at the situation through some no-doubt-soothing rose-tinted glasses by ignoring the fact that in the last 5 years the Bush administration has steadily and stealthily worked to dismantle all the protections that have created all the signs of hope that he cites in his lede.

After looking through the smokescreen, it's clear that making a hopeful case for the state of the planet has to be based on hard reality, not on cherry-picked facts and statistics. But I strongly believe that encouraging people to act, and to believe in the power of people working together to overcome seemingly impossible odds, is a self-fulfilling prophecy. For an example, look no further than Kevin Sweeney's phenomenal essay on Salon earlier this month, "Climate of Hope."

Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence was a screed, a long list of grievances. But he opened with a vision of a better future. He gave us our historic challenge by claiming that equality was a self-evident truth. [...]

That's the challenge for environmentalists. The screed should go on, and the climate-change nightmare should continue to be described in excruciating detail. But the description of success -- and what it might look like from the mountaintop -- is equally important. Hope is not like a soil nutrient, added only to foster growth in the spring. It is far more important. It is the seed. It is life.

And that's what I plan to do this Earth Day, and for every day to come: be aware of just how sticky a situation we've gotten ourselves into, but know that our potential is limitless, and with dedication and constant hard work we can survive and thrive. I hope you will do the same.

Matthew Wheeland is AlterNet's managing editor.