Earth Day is a reminder most Americans want to protect the environment | Opinion

Given the extraordinary and frightening circumstances worldwide, we are now entering our second month of stay-at-home orders. This is of course a crucially important public health intervention, which can help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus while keeping as many as possible healthy and safe. While we cannot be physically together, this year feels particularly poignant as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day while social distancing. Marking Earth Day during this crisis is an opportunity to reflect on the fragility of our world — and call for stronger efforts to protect it at the local, state and federal levels.

Founded in 1970, Earth Day launched a broad consensus on the need to address air, water and ecosystem protections. You can trace its roots right here to Pennsylvania. Many credit Pennsylvania environmentalist Rachel Carson with jump-starting the global modern environmental movement. Her landmark 1962 book, Silent Spring, helped educate a generation of Americans about the negative effects pesticides have on the planet.

Since then, we have seen a great deal of public support for environmental protection across political parties — despite our elected officials routinely failing to reflect that consensus. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found majorities of Americans across the political spectrum say the federal government is doing too little for key aspects of the environment, from protecting air and water quality to reducing the effects of climate change.

If we have collectively learned anything over the past few devastating weeks, it is that we can do big things and adapt rapidly when we commit to a common purpose. We’ve seen it before: the year Earth Day began. Republican President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Clean Air Act of 1970, authorizing the development of comprehensive federal and state controls on pollution from industrial and mobile sources. In signing the Act, Nixon said, “Clean air, clean water, open spaces — these should once again be the birthright of every American. If we act now, they can be.”

Fifty years later, we are reminded of just how much work remains to be done. Astonishing images around the world this month have showed the impacts of temporarily reduced pollution levels. Here at home, air pollution along the East Coast has dropped by as much as 30% according to data from NASA satellites. Never before has the agency noticed such a dramatic shift.

Of course, these reductions are only temporary. They’re the biproduct of an unprecedented disaster causing extraordinary pain. Yet we do have a chance to emerge from this crisis having learned some key lessons.

We saw Pennsylvania take quick action in response to the coronavirus based on science. Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine deserve enormous credit for that science-based approach. Similarly, we must base environmental policy decisions in sound science. A well-coordinated federal response is critical, but when absent, state policy and leadership truly matters. It’s magnified when states can work together and cooperate regionally. We are seeing it in our response to the pandemic and in our response to climate change.

Gov. Wolf’s decision in 2019 to move Pennsylvania toward participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is one powerful example. Working in partnership with 10 of our neighboring states, the program could mark a big step toward cleaning up our fossil fuel-intensive electric power sector with reduced emissions and better public health outcomes. It is critical that Pennsylvania continues to move its program forward, even in these difficult times. As we’ve seen in recent weeks, changing individual behavior matters, but regional and national policy decisions are the biggest drivers of change.

We have taken great strides forward since we celebrated the first Earth Day 50 years ago. Now is not the time to turn our back on progress. We must do all that we can to build a sustainable future while protecting public health.

Joseph Otis Minott is Executive Director & Chief Counsel for the Clean Air Council.