Writing an outdoor column can help make our readers more informed about wildlife and resource issues. My column today is about Earth Day, and my research for this script has resulted in my gaining a large amount of new information to share with you.
Earth Day was started in 1970 primarily as a student campus activity. The date of April 22 was chosen because it fell between spring break and college final exams. The first Earth Day included a teach-in and more than 5,000 students attended.
Overall, the first Earth Day inspired more than 20 million people – over 10 percent of the United States population at the time – to participate.
Smog and polluted air was the driver initially behind this effort. It was a rare instance where both Republicans and Democrats rallied around one common cause. It created an emerging environmental consciousness around the byproduct of human consumption, pollution. The result of this grassroots effort was the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Congress in short order passed the Clean Air Act, followed closely by the Clean Water Act.
Fast forward to 1990 and Earth Day had grown to 200 million people in 141 countries. The engagement of the masses ultimately led to the push to recycle that still exists today. Current Earth Day attracts more than 1 billion people from 193 countries to push for a planet we can all survive on.
I have been an Earth Day participant almost every day of my life for the past 50 years. My life’s motto has always been to try to leave the planet just a little better off than when I found it. This has been done during my adult life as a member and volunteer for Pheasants Forever. The efforts of this habitat organization do just as much for clean water, pollinators, pollution reduction, erosion reduction and environmental education as any other on the planet.
Across America on this Earth Day the 730 chapters of Pheasants Forever are calling all of their members to skip a regular meeting and grab their volunteers and head out to get their hands dirty. They are calling on every member of the organization to attend a project and actually do some manual labor.
My chapter is doing our Earth Day event one week earlier than the actual date of Earth Day and is scheduling to bring all interested parties out onto some of the public lands in Nobles County, Minnesota. We have people from the Minneapolis metro area coming to help. We normally do one big day of public lands improvements annually.
This includes many things, but old fence removal, eradication of invasive trees, trash pickup and sign replacements are all on this list of things to do. We have had north of 40 volunteers attend this annual activity on a regular basis. It is amazing what you will find dumped on these important public lands.
What are you going to do to help make the planet a little better for all of the creatures and humans that inhabit it? Will you be one of those participants? I challenge you to reach out to your local PF chapter or any other habitat organization and see what they have planned for that day. It is a call to action. There is no real way to describe the satisfaction you get from a day in the tall grass.
If you are limited in a physical activity way, then go to a county or regional park and do some cleanup. Visit a Wildlife Management Area in your county and just spruce up those spots by doing a little trash collection. If you have equipment, offer to donate your time and use of that equipment to our collective cause.
If you are interested in helping with our project, it is scheduled for April 16 at 9 a.m. We will gather at my house located at 1027 Lexington Ave., Worthington, Minnesota, and head out as a group. You can help for an hour or all day. Each participant is welcome, no matter what you schedule might be. Please reach out to me at scottarall@gmail.com or by calling 507-360-6027 for more information and what you need to bring.
This is your chance to be part of an event that benefits every person and creature on the planet. I look forward to seeing you working together for the collective good of all.
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com. or on Twitter @habitat champion.