Garden tour for Earth Day(ish)

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated. Ten years later, on that very day, I was born. Coincidence? Obviously. But is it still cool because I’m an earth-loving hippy? Absolutely.

Side rant: Is calling someone a hippy derogatory? That question came up recently. Like most verbal slants, it’s all about intention. If you’re using it to make fun of someone, then yes, you’re a jerk.

But enough about that, let’s get back to Earth Day.

That first Earth Day was thanks to Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. He was elected to the Senate in 1962 and quickly became its leading environmentalist.

“He championed landmark laws including the Wilderness Act, the National Trails Act, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and the National Environmental Education Act,” states a biography published by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “He also introduced the first federal legislation to mandate fuel-efficiency standards in automobiles, control strip mining, and ban the use of phosphates in detergents as well as use of the pesticide DDT and the defoliant 2,4,5-T.”

RELATED: A brief history of environmentalism

The first official Earth Day celebration came with months of anticipatory media coverage, including, of course, a little fearmongering.

“With ‘Earth Day’ less than a month off there is proper concern that the massive teach-ins scheduled April 22 at some 900 colleges and 3,000 high schools do not fall into the hands of the radicals,” states and article published in The Advocate on April 2, 1970. “On that day much of the youthful anger that has been aimed at the war in Vietnam will be turned toward man’s destruction of the environment.”

Fearmongering, however, doesn’t come without a springboard. The article cites a very minor incident at the University of Michigan when 15,000 students turned up for five days of debate over what must be done to clean up the environment.

“By most accounts the teach-in was conducted in orderly fashion and most of the students comported themselves decently and intelligently,” the article states. “There were attempted on the part of radical groups such as Students for a Democratic Society to take over the proceedings and, when that failed, to heckle and disrupt each speaker trying to present his case.”

The fear, however, never got to a boiling point, so the activities went on as planned. LSU was among the universities that participated.

“We are seeking to create an awareness among the University and Baton Rouge communities of the environmental crisis and to stimulate action programs,” said Paul H. Templet, a student from Port Allen and coordinator of the LSU program.

Although Senator Nelson gets credit for the creation of Earth Day, it was really the collective impact of college students that made it a reality.

“This is the first time a large number of young people have come of age with a deep understanding of the complex and independent nature of life upon this planet to use the energy of youth for healthy and constructive change,” said LSU’s Chancellor at the time, Dr. Cecil G. Taylor.

The event went off without a hitch, and the article published the day after the event put the oil industry on blast.

“Louisiana’s oil industry was tagged with the label ‘polluter of the month’ Wednesday as college and high school students across the state joined a nationwide observance of ‘Earth Day,'” states an article published in The Advocate.

"A student draped in a white sheet was dubbed the oil industry’s representative,” the article continues. “He was drenched with oil-filled water pistols by sign-carrying students.”

“The ‘Sportsmen’s Paradise’ is headed for the way of the Louisiana brown pelican - extinction,” said a statement issued at the ceremony by the Stop the Oil Pollution committee (STOP).

The first Earth Day was a huge success, making the environment top of mind and above the fold. And it was a bi-partisan issue.

“Ecology has become a nationwide issue,” reads an article published in the Times-Picayune on July 18. 1970. “The huge success of ‘Earth Day,’ which was held recently, proved the point.”

But what goes up…

“Yet a state official from Georgia branded ‘Earth Day’ a Communist plot because it happened to be held on Lenin’s birthday,” the article continues. “Ecology and its supporters cannot win.”

Progress was made throughout the 70s, but what was started by a Republican was nearly ended by a Republican.

“The EPA was created by an executive initiative of the Republican president Richard Nixon in 1970, the culmination of decades of rising environmental concern and growing dissatisfaction with absent or ineffective environmental regulation at the state level. President Nixon proposed a “strong, independent agency” with a “broad mandate” to control pollution, and a bipartisan Congress passed landmark acts for clean air (1970) and clean water (1972) that the new agency would enforce. Over the next few years these and other laws gave the new agency ambitious goals and powerful tools to set and enforce national pollution standards. But as this new agency pushed against private interests, and in some cases the prerogatives of state regulators, powerful resistance arose,” states an article published by the American Journal of Public Health in April 2018.

Enter Ronald Reagan, who won office the year I was born, a decade after the country was united in its desire to prevent further destruction to the environment. Reagan, however, took out his red pen and started slashing programs like anyone who might want to edit one of my articles. His loyalty was to industry and when industry wins, the environment loses.

“To run the EPA, Reagan selected Anne Gorsuch, a 38-year-old corporate lawyer and two-term Colorado legislator who had opposed the Clean Air Act, water quality rules, and hazardous waste protections.”

Sounds a lot like another actor turned president, doesn’t it?

“In less than a year, the Trump administration has overturned or delayed dozens of regulations of, proposed massive budget cuts for, and reduced staff and enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of a broad challenge to existing US environmental health policy.”

The once bi-partisan movement to save the world from ourselves fell into dark days. The light, however, is starting to glow once again and now is the time to bring the environmental movement into a new phase.

Louisiana is taking some steps forward, even though we are still housing some of the worst polluting industries. Nonetheless, Governor John Bel Edwards has formed the Climate Initiatives Task Force, which is starting to make some moves.

Speaking of making moves, come move with me Saturday morning to tour some pretty rad gardens in the Old Goodwood area. The ride will start at 10 a.m. at the Botanic Gardens. Come join us! Rumor has it there will be cake!

Wait, wait! Before you go, I want to tell you all about my new podcast. The first full episode was released on Monday and I’m really proud of how it turned out. The link below takes you to the free, short version of the podcast episode. If you want to hear the full, version, sign up to become a Walls Project Insider.

All you have to do is become a monthly contributor to the Walls Project. A $10 donation will get you inside to bonus content.

I want to thank all of you for your continued support of my work and my projects, of which I know I have many. It means the world to me to know there are so many of you willing to keep up with my shenanigans. Cheers to all of you!