We celebrated Earth Day in New Bern with a terrific line-up of presenters from local non-profits who are working hard every day to preserve our natural resources and teach us how we can make simple life choices that contribute to improving our environment and ultimately, the Earth.
Moderated by Jane Maulucci, The Reactive Voice and Wendy Card.
Presenters:
0:01 – 7:40: Bobbi Waters (Coastal Environmental Partnership)
13:44 – 32:14: Dr Tom Glasgow (Craven NC Cooperative Extension)
33:34 – 48:50: Kathy Hunt (Lower Neuse Riverkeeper, Sound Rivers)
48:51 – 58:54: Continuing the Conversation
58:55 – 1:10:30: Garret Biss (One Million Goal)
1:11.00 – 1:42:35: Paul Schernitzki (Litter Pirate)
1:23.18 – 1:35:17: Paula Hartman (Trent Woods Garden Club)
1:36.10 – 1:48:30: Carol Oster (Carolina Nature Coalition)
1:23.18 – 1:35:17: Wrap Up
A little bit of History from Earth Day.org:
The first Earth Day in 1970 gave a voice to an emerging public consciousness about the state of our planet.
Senator Gaylord Nelson, had long been concerned about the deteriorating environment in the United States. In January 1969, he and many others witnessed the ravages of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, Senator Nelson wanted to infuse the energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution.
Senator Nelson announced the idea for a teach-in on college campuses and persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair. They recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to organize the campus teach-ins and they choose April 22, a weekday falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, to maximize the greatest student participation.
Recognizing its potential to inspire all Americans, Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land and the effort soon broadened to include a wide range of organizations, faith groups, and others. They changed the name to Earth Day and caught on across the country. Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans — at the time, 10% of the total population of the United States — to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts.
Groups that had been fighting individually against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife united on Earth Day around these shared common values. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labor leaders. By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first of their kind environmental laws, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later Congress passed the Clean Water Act. A year after that, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and soon after the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. These laws have protected millions of men, women and children from disease and death and have protected hundreds of species from extinction.
Please let me know if you have any comments or questions by sending an email.
Thanks for watching!
Wendy Card