American Scientist

In the midst of a pandemic, perhaps we look even harder to make meaning of our shared human experience. Today, what seems to resonate widely with people is that the Earth is somehow taking revenge: "Is the Covid-19 Pandemic Mother Nature’s Response to Human Transgression?" asks one writer (in a widely distributed post), as if we humans are somehow separate from the world.

Earth Day was established, however, in recognition that we are not separate from the natural world and that harming the environment also harms us: When we pollute the air and water, we pollute our lungs and our blood. So the first Earth Day in 1970 was a purposeful political act to force environmental protectionism onto the national agenda. Some 20 million Americans participated, who represented about 10 percent of the U.S. population, making the first Earth Day perhaps the largest single-day political event in U.S. history (other than an election).

A political success, that first Earth Day in 1970 prompted many legislative acts, including the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later that year. Prior to that, "There were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment" in the United States. On the first anniversary of Earth Day, the EPA's first administrator, William D. Ruckelshaus, said that "the point has been driven home that the problem of the restoration and preservation of the environment is a problem which transcends generation gaps, partisan divisions, and national boundaries."

Reflecting on that first Earth Day, it "lacked controversy" writes Henry Fountain, who was a high-school sophomore at the time. Unlike many of the various marches and protests of the 1960s and 1970s, the first Earth Day "was a day for learning and expressing concern, not for protesting—a big news event, but one with little of the drama and tension that makes for compelling journalism," Fountain writes.

Nowadays some say Earth Day is just not what it used to be, with an emphasis on the consumption of environmentally friendly products and on individual—rather than collective—action.

Personally, every year since the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, I'm reminded of Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), but with the understanding that we are already in space:

"The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand."

Still, Sagan's "make our stand" language evokes a sense of battle rather than of coexistence. And certainly on this Earth Day, it feels that we are engaged in battle with other forms of life—pathogens—even though on Earth-time scales, we humans are the invaders. Viruses and bacteria were here long before us, and we evolved in and around them.

Sometimes, that evolution meant incorporation. Virologist Anna Marie Skalka once told me about how she was shocked to learn that 8 percent of our genome is actually retroviral sequences. "That’s more genetic information than is contained in all of the exons that encode all the proteins in our bodies, which is only about 1 percent of our genome," she said. So although "we're made of star stuff," as Sagan famously said, that same stuff also spent billions of years as a part of Earth, and some of that stuff was virus before it became a part of us.

Other times, that evolution meant exclusion, with our immune system's white blood cells literally engulfing pathogens to destroy them. That process, phagocytosis, also frustrates new efforts to deliver drugs to the body, such as those paired with carbon nanotubes that are meant to circulate in the bloodstream long enough to reach cancerous tumors. And scientists have searched for other ways to curb the immune system's appetite in order to deliver gene therapy via viruses to correct for genetic deficiencies.

But most of the time, our evolution has meant coexistence. Each of us is a superorganism, after all, and host to trillions of bacteria that live on and inside us. So the metaphor researchers use for our immune system is not one of conflict but rather of "likening it to the solar system, a symphony, or a mother's watchfulness," writes my colleague, Katie L. Burke.

To coexist better, then, does not necessarily require drastic acts of rearranging the planet, separating habitats entirely to keep viruses and other pathogens that are dangerous to us in their natural reservoirs. Rather, a shift in our general understanding may due: Our perceived dominion over the Earth is not that of exploitation but stewardship, and that one possible path to change is through infrastructure for broad public engagement.

That's because we have many environmental laws on the books here in the United States, but our failure to enforce those laws affects climate, cultural heritage, and even solar energy production. Rollbacks of regulations put in place after environmental catastrophes such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will almost certainly lead to future disasters. There are also new challenges to face with a warming, increasingly crowded world, with clean water requiring energy and energy production requiring water. And "the renewable revolution could keep dams off the world’s remaining free-flowing rivers." But if future U.S. Administrations do not reverse our withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, then it seems obvious that we will emit more greenhouse gases in the long run, warming our planet further. It makes no difference to the atmosphere—and so makes no difference to the Earth—who creates greenhouse gases or any other kind of pollution, so long as someone does.

Science, though, this relatively new way of thinking, offers us means to understand better our environment, our planet, and our species' place in it. So below please find a selection of posts, articles, and book reviews related to Earth Day in honor of the first celebration 50 years ago. Then, Earth Day was mostly about small teach-ins rather than large marches, which today are not in our collective interest. In the midst of a pandemic, now more than ever, promoting "the public's understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition" (our mission) takes more than printed pages. At least the infrastructure for broad public engagement already exists, although I note as digital managing editor of American Scientist, that infrastructure must also evolve and adapt to our wonderful world.

A selection of Earth Day-related posts and articles (some of which are also linked in the text above):

• Heat, Illness, and Hope in Coal Country
• Navajo-Led Science in Pursuit of Environmental Justice
• A Delta in Peril
• World-Dominating Microbes
• America's Cat Is on the Comeback
• Fifty Years of Earth-observation Satellites
• Climate Change and Cholera
• How Climate Science Could Lead to Action
• From the Archives: Scientists' Conversations About Rachel Carson and DDT, 1944 to Today
• Renewed Hope for Coastal Marshes in Louisiana
• The Biodiversity Conservation Paradox
• How to Be Manipulative
• Connecting Habitats to Prevent Species Extinctions
• A Hawaiian Renaissance That Could Save the World

And if you're looking for an Earth Day-related book, here's a large selection of book reviews:

Eminent environmentalists

• Michael P. Branch reviewed a biography of John Muir by Donald Worster
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/john-omountains
• Paul S. Sutter reviewed a book about Aldo Leopold
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/passion-for-the-land
• Julianne Lutz Warren reviewed a biography of Rachel Carson by William Souder
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/crafting-a-narrative-of-care
• David Schoonmaker reviewed two books about Rachel Carson
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-witness-for-nature
• Sylvia N. Tesh reviewed a book by Michael Egan about Barry Commoner
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-call-for-citizen-empowerment

History

• Sylvia N. Tesh reviewed a book by Michael Egan about the history of environmentalism
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-call-for-citizen-empowerment
• David Arnold reviewed a book by J. R. McNeill about ecological factors and the role played by environmental change in the yellow fever epidemic
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-tale-of-vectors-viruses-and-victims
• Rob Dunn reviewed a book about the ecological history of the islands of Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues by Anthony Cheke and Julian Hume
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-sun-yet-warms-his-native-ground
• Rohan D’Souza reviewed a book by Sunil Amrith about the history of water control in Asia
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/water-as-an-ideological-force
• Jared Farmer reviewed a book by Marsha Weisiger about soil erosion in Navajo country in the 1930s and early 1940s
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/erosion-of-trust

Endangered species, invasive species, biodiversity

• Daniel Simberloff reviewed a book by Joe Roman about endangered species
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/encounters-with-vanishing-species
• Harold Mooney reviewed a book about invasive species by Alan Burdick
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/battling-bioinvaders
• Peter A. Bednekoff reviewed a book by William Stolzenburg about the role of large predators in maintaining biodiversity
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/missing-and-sorely-missed
• Simon Stuart reviewed a book edited by Michael Lannoo about amphibian declines
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/its-not-easy-being-green
• Norman Myers reviewed a book edited by Thomas E. Lovejoy and Lee Hannah about climate change and biodiversity
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/when-hotspots-get-too-hot
• Robert Feranec reviewed a book by Paul S. Martin about extinct megafauna and rewilding
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/what-became-of-the-megafauna
• Rick MacPherson reviewed a book by Allana Mitchell about oceanic dead zones and extinction
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/cruising-for-a-bruising
• Katie L. Burke reviewed a book by Lauren E. Oaks about a decline in the population of yellow cypress trees in Alaska
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/have-you-seen-this-species

Conservation

• Thomas F. Malone reviewed a book by Lester R. Brown about rescuing Earth from overexploitation
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-plan-for-preserving-civilization
• Daniel Simberloff reviewed a book by Andrew Balmford about conservation success
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/conservation-for-the-win
• Russell Greenberg reviewed a book by David S. Wilcove on animal migration and conservation biology
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/cant-get-there-from-here
• Jared Farmer reviewed a book by Robert M. Wilson about the conservation of migratory birds
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/of-birds-and-bureaucracy
• Susan Harrison reviewed a book by Ilkka Hanski about habitat loss
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/modeling-loss
• John Berggren reviewed a book by Heather Hansman about water conservation and the Green River
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-deep-dive-into-the-green-river
• Asia Murphy reviewed a book by Stephanie Hanes about conservation in Africa
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/one-africa-two-divergent-narratives
• Murphy also reviewed a book by Alison Jolly about conservation in Madagascar
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/queen-jolly
• Christine Casson reviewed a collection of essays edited by Edwin C. Hagenstein, Sara M. Gregg, and Brian Donahue about land use, farming, and conservation
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/making-the-land-our-own
• Peter H. Raven reviewed a book by Carolyn Fry about plant conservation through the preservation of seeds
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/from-little-acorns
• Peter H. Raven and Alan Graham coauthored a review of a book by David Rains about the origins and ecology of the California desert
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/how-the-desert-got-into-california

Sustainability

• Antonia Baum reviewed a book by Jane Poynter about Biosphere 2
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-garden-of-eden
• Kent E. Portney reviewed a book by Andrew Ross about sustainable cities
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-folly-of-sustainable-cities

Climate change

• Michael P. Branch reviewed a book by Bill McKibben (Eaarth) about the threats posed by climate change
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-future-is-now
• Dimitri Zenghelis reviewed three books, by Stephen H. Schneider, James Hansen, and James Hoggan, on climate change and climate change denial
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/science-fact-climate-fiction--clarifying-the-debate
• Ken Caldeira reviewed books on climate change by Elizabeth Kolbert and Tim Flannery, respectively
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/time-is-not-on-our-side
• Noel Castree reviewed a book by Paul R. Epstein and Dan Ferber on the threat to public health from climate change
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-climate-of-ill-health
• Noel Castree also reviewed a book by Paul N. Edwards about computer models, climate data, and the politics of global warming
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/how-we-make-knowledge-about-climate-change
• David Satterthwaite reviewed a book by Matthew E. Kahn about cities and climate change
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-fantasy-future
• Donald Worster reviewed a book by William deBuys about climate change and the future of the American Southwest
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-drier-and-hotter-future
• J. R. McNeill reviewed a book by Marten Scheffer about the applicability of systems dynamics to critical transitions in nature, such as climate shifts
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/runaway-change
• Carl Wunsch reviewed a book by Orrin H. Pilkey and Linda Pilkey-Jarvis about the use and misuse of complex computer modeling to forecast the environmental future
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/misuse-of-models

Environmental devastation

• David W. Orr reviewed a book by Erik Reece about mountaintop mining
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-dirt-on-coal
• Katie-Leigh Virginia Corder reviewed a book by Patricia Newman about plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-vast-sea-of-plastic
• Charles Perrow reviewed a book by Vaclav Smil about global catastrophes and trends, with a focus on environmental change
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-worst-is-yet-to-be

Environmentalism and warfare

• James G. Lewis reviewed a book by Jacob Darwin Hamblin about military strategy and the environment
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/stocking-natures-arsenal

Environmental protection

• Allison Macfarlane reviewed a book by Richard Burleson Stewart and Jane Bloom Stewart on nuclear waste policy
  https://www.americanscientist.org/article/trouble-at-the-back-end