Mainers under 50 were not yet born when the modern-day environmental movement was born out of general outrage over the smog suffocating our urban areas, widespread pesticide use and harmful discharges into our waterways rendering it unsafe to drink and lethal to fish. The youthful rebellion took the form of Earth Day (April 21, 1970) and fallout from Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” and the fires that burned in the Houston Ship Canal and the Cuyahoga River.

These events energized the public to reverse decades of environmental degradation fueled by the false belief that Dilution is the Solution to Pollution. The EPA was created by the Nixon Administration to address a new environmental management approach – one built on sound science and a focus on human health. This new paradigm matured to produce documented benefits, including cleaner air that improved urban airways in cities and industrial areas, improved respiratory health in children and the elderly, rivers and lakes that were that supported indigenous fisheries and safe for human contact, safe drinking water from groundwater aquifers, mitigation or remediation of hundreds of contaminated land Superfund sites and countless other environmental policies and actions.

EPA turns 50 in 2020 and deserves our collected kudos for a job well done. Retired EPA alumni are still active and tout their Not Done Yet motto. Read more about these achievements at EPAAlumniAssosciation.org. From this website one can access an essay detailing the specific improvements achieved by the various legislations during the EPA’s first 50 years titled Protecting the Environment – A Half Century of Progress. It is an informative read and presents good factual evidence that EPA has helped Americans and improved both their environment as well as public health. Similarly, the Earth Day in April is maturing to include new challenges – global climate change, persistent chemicals like chlorinated hydrocarbons and plastics invading the oceans. Earth Day has now gone international to educate, diversify and build a sustainable advocacy across the globe (EarthDay.org).

Ray C. Whittemore
Standish