Environmental Education Could Not Wait Then, and Cannot Wait Now
By Patricia Paladines
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 catalyzed the modern environmental education movement. A few months after that first official celebration of the Earth’s natural environment, the Congress of the United States passed The Environmental Education Act, which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on October 30, 1970. Later, Nixon noted that it is “vital that our entire society develop a new understanding and new awareness of man’s relation to his environment — what might be called ‘environmental literacy.’”
The Act (Public Law 91–516) states that “The Congress of the United States finds that the deterioration of the quality of the Nation’s environment and of its ecological balance poses a serious threat to the strength and vitality of the people of the Nation and is in part due to poor understanding of the Nation’s environment and of the need for ecological balance; that presently there do not exist adequate resources for educating and informing citizens in these areas, and that concerted efforts in educating citizens about environmental quality and ecological balance are therefore necessary.”
The Environmental Education Act encouraged and provided financial support for the development of curricula that improved American’s understanding of policies that enhance environmental quality and maintain ecological balance. It called for the use of such curricula in model educational programs at the elementary and secondary school levels, the development of training programs for teachers, other educational personnel, public service personnel, community, labor, industrial and business leaders, and government employees at State, Federal and local levels. It supported the planning of outdoor ecological centers that would provide community education programs on preserving and enhancing environmental quality and maintaining ecological balance, and the preparation and distribution of material by mass media in dealing with the environment and ecology.
In 1971, the U.S. Commissioner of Education, Dr. Sidney P. Marland Jr. wrote an article titled “Environmental Education Cannot Wait” published in American Education, 1971. In the article he stated, “Environment as a high priority educational theme has also been assisted by strong student concern for the decline in environmental quality. Youth is more concerned with the future state of the environment than is the older generation because young people are, for one thing, going to spend so much time inhaling that future environment, swallowing it, and finding their way through it. Environmental concern offers an attractive neutral ground in which to work out the ‘alliance between generations’ which President Nixon spoke of at the University of Nebraska in January.”
Many of us were the “youth” Mr. Marland refers to in his article. We grew up inhaling, swallowing and finding our way through the environment our leaders at the time sought to protect. We raised our children on a less polluted planet than what we had begun to experience in the 1950s and 60s when we were children. Opportunities for learning about the natural environment that surrounds us are now readily available across the country, at nature center, zoos, aquariums, in school curriculum, and universities. These programs have inspired many of us to embark on careers that allow us to nurture and expand environmental literacy, as environmental educators, environmental scientists, environmental writers, environmental lawyers, conservationists and activists.
On the evening of October 18, 1972 after Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Act because he believed the price tag of $24 billion was too high, Senator Howard Baker, Republican of Tennessee, echoed Marland’s concern for the younger generation, and generations to come, “As I have talked with thousands of Tennesseans, I have found that the kind of natural environment we bequeath to our children and grandchildren is of paramount importance. If we cannot swim in our lakes and rivers, if we cannot breathe the air God has given us, what other comforts can life offer us?” Nixon’s veto was overridden with bipartisan support.
These environmentally friendly laws passed by the generation before us spared us and their grandchildren from further events like the acute smog that covered New York City over the 1966 Thanksgiving holiday and spontaneous river fires like the ones that happened in Ohio’s Cuyahoga River.
On this 50th Anniversary of the first Earth Day, most of the world is on lockdown due to a pandemic which is believed to have originated from disturbance to wildlife and habitats. It is obvious that there is still much work to do in the realm of environmental education. As we stay in our homes with our loved ones, schooling our children, overwhelmed by the noise blaring from the multitude of media outlets that paint our emotions in red or blue, let’s take a pause and reflect on the efforts of our elders and commit to honor their vision. Let’s consider how we will now work out an “alliance between generations”, between partisan lines, and across national borders, to prevent our children and grandchildren from experiencing future Earth Days under lockdowns that stem from environmental illiteracy.
A shorter version of this article was published by TBR New Media on Long Island, New York.
Patricia Paladines is an environmental educator and photographer living Setauket, New York. Follow her on Instagram @photographically_me