Earth Day

Earth Day

Background

Hello students; as you all know, today is Earth Day. Earth Day is one of the few globally recognized annual events that are often organized with the intention to acknowledge and show support for the environment. This means that every April 22, people around the globe, under the stewardship of the Earth Day Network, mobilize and organize events that are meant to celebrate the environment with the intention of motivating individuals, groups, and communities to do their best to keep it safe for all living things, including all the fauna and flora. The event often targets to address all sorts of pollution (such as air, water, and land) that might impact the well-being of living things, including human beings, animals, plants, and microorganisms.

Before delving into how scientific research has often influenced public law or policy and how people and communities can create positive change for the environment, it is first important to highlight how the “Earth Day” celebration started nearly five decades ago. It was on 28 January 1969 that reports emerged of oil spillage in Santa Barbara, California. On this fateful day, an oil well that was being drilled by an oil company called Union Oil Platform A accidentally blew out, leading to an oil spillage. A scientific investigation revealed that nearly 10,000 sea lions, seals, dolphins, and sea birds lost their lives in the aftermath (Spezion, 2011). In reaction to these massive deaths, activists reacted by mobilizing for the creation of the world’s Earth Day, environment education, as well as environmental policies to enlighten people on the need to keep vigilance with the environment. Since then, besides celebrating Earth Day, scientists and community members (including activists, educators, as well as the general public) are leading the way in not only influencing environmental policies but also creating awareness of the need to safeguard the earth and its environments from similar spillages and other unnatural blunders and, most importantly, how to do it to protect the natural environment for the current and future generations. Today, based on the statement printed on the organization’s website, Earth Day’s mission is to build the globe’s largest environmental movement with the intent to push for transformative change for the planet and people (Earth Day Network, n.d.).

With this background knowledge and a brief history of Earth Day in mind, this presentation will specifically teach you students, and your families how scientific research and public awareness of one of the key environmental issues led to the development and implementation of one of the leading environmental laws and regulations globally called the ‘cap and trade’ policy. In addition, the presentation will address how people and communities (including citizens of a country, government bodies, activists, the scientific community, and so on) can create positive change for the environment.

How scientific research and public awareness of an environmental issue led to the development of the ‘cap and trade’ environmental policy or law?

Before I explain how scientific research and public awareness played a crucial part in developing and implementing the ‘cap and trade’ environmental legislation, it is first important to define the terms scientific research and public awareness. Scientific research is a systematic examination of hypotheses and theories using empirical methods like controlled trials, experiments, or surveys. A hypothesis or theory is a proposed explanation or assertion of something that is yet to be proven. On the other hand, public awareness refers to the public’s or citizens’ knowledge and understanding of a certain subject, including its benefits, risks, and so on.

In truth, scientific research and public awareness have played a significant part in influencing the development and implementation of several policies on a national, regional, or global level, such as the cap and trade law. This policy, which is sometimes called emission trading, is common legislation implemented by governments to limit, restrict, or cap the overall amount of particular chemicals (especially carbon dioxide) that industries can emit, especially manufacturing plants that use coal, oil, or other petroleum products as a source of energy.

Around mid and towards the end of the 20^th century, especially as industrialization was booming globally, the public (the elite community, activists, and national leaders) was increasingly expressing concerns about the impact of industrialization on the environment, particularly as global warming was causing severe ecological impacts. Especially in the 1990s, the global community started expressing concerns about the surge in sea levels, the rise of natural disasters (such as tsunamis, tornadoes, and wildfires), and an increase in drought incidences across different parts of the world. In effect, the global community launched a long process of building efficient domestic and international policies and measures that could help tackle greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, methane, and perfluorocarbons. All these efforts were intended to respond to the growing theories/assertions that global warming was occurring because of man-made industrial activities. The international community was also, at the moment, not so certain of the real implications of global warming.

This public awareness campaign for an environmental policy change was also supported by earlier research showing human activity’s impact (especially industrial emission) on global warming. In fact, the efficacy of what the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) later named the “cap-and-trade” policy strategy to air pollution was first analyzed in a string of micro-economic computer simulation research that was spearheaded by scientists at the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which was at the time called the National Air Pollution Control Administration). The EPA is the leading environment and human health protection organization in the United States. These computer model studies, which Sanjour William and Burton Ellison conducted, reflected mathematical models of many global cities and their sources of emissions and were mainly intended to make a comparison of the efficiency and costs of several control measures/approaches (Burto et al., 1973). The results of their improved models were later presented by the EPA to Congress in 1992, proposing the “cap-and-trade” as the least-cost solution to environmental protection by curbing industrial emissions (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1972).

How people and communities (scientific community, government bodies, citizens of a country, etc.) can create positive change for the environment?

Creating a positive environmental change can be achieved at three key levels of social work, including macro, mezzo, and micro (Greene & Watkins, 1998). Individual educators (students, activists, teachers, parents, family members, and so on), small community groups, and large organizations can all create positive change by working with the three levels of social work. For example, environmental experts can target educating community members and their families directly on the benefits and risks of environmental protection. For example, people and families can be taught to embrace green energy consumption, such as the use of renewable solar energy, to preserve the environment. People can also be taught to avoid cutting trees and prevent plastic wastes and industrial sludge from entering rivers, lakes, oceans, and other water bodies. More so, people can be advised on how to demand action from leaders as well as get involved in policy change through lobbying.

On the other hand, at the mezzo level, experts can engage smaller groups, institutions, and neighborhoods in bringing significant changes to the community. Prisons, community centers, hospitals, and schools can play an important part by taking direct action in protecting the environment (like planting trees and cleaning sewages) and indirect action by championing for policy changes. These institutions can also create policies within their establishments that require, support and encourage all stakeholders (including workers) to protect the environment.

Finally, at the macro-level (which brings on board governments, including federal and state), the primary ways of preserving the environment are through policy creation and implementation. Usually, this level of social work concentrates on the big picture, which translates to the preservation of environmental issues through a broader societal lens. The government, usually at this level, focuses on creating and enforcing environmental protection policies and laws passed by Congress, such as the cap-and-trade law that requires manufacturing companies to limit their greenhouse gas emissions to a certain level. Failure to observe these rules can result in hefty fines, cancellation of business licenses, or imprisonment of business managers and owners.

References

Burton, E. S., Edward, H. P., & William, S. (1973). A Survey of air pollution control models. Rolf A. Deininger, ed. Ann Arbor: Ann Arbor Science Publishers.

Greene, R. R., & Watkins, M. (1998). Serving diverse constituencies: Applying the ecological perspectives. Transaction Publishers.

Earth Day Network. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from https://www.earthday.org/about-us/

Spezio, T. S. (2011). Rising Tide: The Santa Barbara Oil Spill and its aftermath. California: University of California, Davis.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1972). The Economics of Clean Air. Annual Report of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Congress of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/economics-clean-air-annual-report-congress-united-states-1972

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