Letter to the Editor: Earth Day 2018

As Earth Day approaches I wonder how many of us understand the significance of how important this day is. Our own Senator Gaylord Nelson started and suggested a movement to clean up the pollution throughout the country and how important it was to our health. Because of this President Nixon with an executive order founded the EPA in December of 1970 and on April 22, 1970 Earth Day was born. Today it is a global cerebration, but here in this country there is not much to celebrate this year. We are the only country in the world that is opposed to the Paris Climate Agreement.

President Trump appointed three men to his cabinet that their sole purpose is to dismantle these important agencies and relax or do away with regulations for our safety and the environment. The three men, EPA Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have managed in one year to undo much of what these agencies have accomplished.  If you care about unregulated pesticides, exposure to safe amounts of radiation, unrestricted oil and gas drilling off our coastal states and clean water to drink and air to breathe, now is the time for all of us to do research as to what is happening in this country. A study in The Lancet finds that pollution is responsible for nine million premature deaths each year, more than the combined toll from war and hunger. US natural disasters consistent with climate change cost $306 billion in 2017. I don’t know about you but to me this is appalling. The time is now to stand up and demand a safe environment, to be educated and knowledgeable and to care about this earth of ours, because if we don’t, where will we live?

Carol Schmidt

Baileys Harbor, Wis.