Earth Day 37-EPA Remains Committed to Planet
EPA issues report supporting green roofs.

In the wake of Rachel Carson’s 1962 best seller, Silent Spring, our nation was awakened by the widespread degradation of our planet and its natural resources. Our cities were smothered by their own smog, large fish kills occurred in the Great Lakes, and Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, filled with oil and toxic chemicals, caught fire. Disturbed and frustrated, the American public expected a governmental response to address the widespread abuse of our planet—a response our government leaders were unprepared and ill-equipped to sufficiently provide.

Gaylord Nelson, Hon. ASLA and recipient of the Olmsted Medal, then senator from Wisconsin, was also frustrated by the fact that only a handful of his congressional colleagues “had an interest in environmental issues.” Inspired by the Vietnam War “teach-ins,” Senator Nelson began organizing community and student activists across the country to address environmental quality and resource conservation. The senator’s efforts culminated on April 22, 1970, with nearly 20 million people coming together to participate in the largest environmental demonstration to date—known as Earth Day. The hugely successful and well-publicized event forced federal, state, and local leaders to take notice of the country’s concerns for our environment.

Federal leaders immediately sprung into action and took one of the most important steps in the environmental movement—the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December 1970. To create the agency, 44 governmental entities scattered among nine departments merged. Since its creation, EPA’s achievements have included banning lead in gasoline, lowering lead levels in our air, banning pesticides like DDT, closing unsafe local garbage dumps, and providing funding for wastewater treatment.

Thirty-seven years after the first Earth Day, the EPA remains committed to promoting a healthy environment and protecting our natural resources. On March 5, EPA issued a report, Using Green Infrastructure to Protect Water Quality in Stormwater, CSO, NonPoint Source, and Other Water Programs, which recognizes the value of green infrastructure techniques and encourages their use in reducing water quality problems
(see http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/
greeninfrastructure_h2oprograms_07.pdf).

Recent data and models have shown that green roofs slow or totally absorb rainfall during storms, thereby mitigating problems experienced by our stormwater systems, including water contamination, severe flooding, and sewage overflows.

Through the combined efforts of students, activists, community leaders, and government officials we continue to celebrate Earth Day each year on April 22, which now has evolved into a worldwide campaign to protect our global environment.

Roxanne Blackwell is manager of federal government affairs. Contact her at rblackwell@asla.org or by phone at 202-216-2334.