50 Years of Celebrating Earth Day: Look How Far We’ve Come

While the days all seem to run together during this COVID-19 quarantine period, April 22 remains a pretty big day for the Earth and how we relate to it as human beings. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day, a time to appreciate nature, get outside, and reflect on how our actions impact the environment around us. This anniversary also marks the history of our environmental achievements and allows us to reflect on how far we’ve come.

On that first Earth Day in 1970, 20 million people across the United States took to the streets to educate and activate the public about how we can make the environment better. By 1990, Earth Day was a global sensation, with over 200 million people mobilizing across 141 countries. These large movements have paved the way for implementation of global recycling programs, volunteer beach cleanups, citizen science programs, and much more.

At a local level in Southeast Michigan, we’ve seen the impacts these types of movements have made. Here are a few examples:

Kayaking on the Rouge River

Last year marked the 50^th Anniversary of when the Rouge River caught fire. Since then, tremendous strides have been made to improve water quality and habitat throughout the river, largely thanks to The Rouge Project and all the partners. Volunteer water quality monitoring and watershed education programs continue through the Alliance of Rouge Communities and local nonprofits – like Friends of the Rouge with significant interest by local watershed residents.

Air quality has improved throughout Southeast Michigan, some of which can be attributed to SEMCOG’s Ozone Action program. For 27 years, this program has helped educate the public about how their actions can reduce ozone pollution.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was created in 2010 and, since then, hundreds of projects have been developed to address and delist Areas of Concern, reduce nutrient runoff and thus harmful algal blooms, create miles and miles of fish habitat, and so much more. This includes the Clinton River Spillway Coastal restoration project, which stabilized and restored approximately two miles of channel.

Southeast Michigan has made huge environmental strides and continues to set the stage for a resilient future moving forward. SEMCOG plans stress the importance of green infrastructure. Our plans emphasize green infrastructure’s contribution not only to environmental quality, but also to placemaking, economic values, and healthy communities – things that are vitally important to us individually and as a region, that help us lead happy, healthy lives in Southeast Michigan.

We can count this momentous Earth Day anniversary among the occasions affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic. In-person events and activities have been canceled due to COVID-19 and, with Michigan weather swinging somewhere between warm and snowy, it’s sometimes hard to get excited about getting outside. However, thanks to many “virtual” capabilities, there are still several ways to celebrate the Earth this year.

Here are some examples of how you can get involved in Earth Day this year:

• Huron River Watershed Council’s #50/50 Earth Day Challenge
• Rescue the Rouge Everyday with Friends of the Rouge
• H.O.M.E. School with Alliance for the Great Lakes
• Master Rain Gardner Online Training
• Clinton River Watershed Council’s Virtual Weekly Clean

Earth Day is about celebrating our love for the planet we occupy! So, get outside, climb a tree, lay in the grass, and appreciate the natural beauty we have in Southeast Michigan, as our part of the Earth starts to come alive again.