Earth Day marks half-century raising environment awareness, stewardship
Apr 22, 2020, 4:25 AM | Updated: 12:47 pm
PHOENIX — Wednesday is the 50th anniversary of celebrating Earth Day, a cause dedicated to raising awareness about the environment.
Spearheaded by Sen. Gaylord Nelson, a junior senator from Wisconsin, in 1970, the day was created after witnessing the effects of an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, in 1969.
Starting off as a broad-based movement, Director of the Arizona Nature Conservancy Pat Graham told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News that Earth Day has since evolved in the past five decades.
“It’s really not about putting farmers out of business or stopping logging, it’s really about responsible forest management and how can we produce our food and keep our rivers flowing,” says Graham, whose father was quoted in the New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962 by Rachel Carson that focused on the harmful effects of insecticide on animals and plants.
The Nature Conservancy, founded nationally in 1951 and currently the largest nature conservation organization in the world, works to tackle climate change, build healthy cities, provide water and food sustainability and protect land and water.
Graham says the Arizona branch, which launched in 1966, works with farmers and others to accomplish these goals in responsible stewardship.
“We’re working with farmers to see how they can continue to farm, for example along the Verde River, in a way that allows them to provide food and sustenance while keeping the river flowing,” he said.
“The idea that often times I think people have is that you have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment, we’re trying to demonstrate that’s just not the case,” Graham added.
In over five decades, the Arizona Nature Conservancy has had a positive impact on 450 miles of rivers and streams between Arizona and the Colorado Delta in northern Mexico, according to Graham.
People can usually see the fruits of the Arizona Nature Conservancy’s labor at nature preserves, however, the locations have been forced to close due to the coronavirus outbreak.
On this 50th anniversary of the debut of Earth Day, Graham says now is the opportunity for people to appreciate nature, even by webcams or photography.
“Nature is what sustains us, and I think now more than ever, we need to care for our communities, each other and for the planet,” he said.
“Hopefully this earth day reminds us of all three of those things,” Graham added.
KTAR News 92.3 F.M.’s Bob McClay contributed to this report.
