It’s easy to get complacent in beautiful Maine of something like Earth Day, which falls today, April 22. We’ve grown accustomed to the state’s bottle bill, so much so that it is second nature now to pick up empties, and toss them in the back seat to make a few more pennies. Trash along the roads and beaches is so aesthetically offensive, many grab that, too, and find a trash can. Children are taught not to litter, and to recognize debris that poses a danger to wildlife.

So as not to get too righteous, however, there is much more to do and Earth Day is our collective tug-at-the-sleeve to do more, and to do it better.

More than 43 years ago, it was Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis., who suggested the United States observe Earth Week. Born in Clear Lake, Minn., he grew up with a healthy respect for the outdoors. In the 1960s, he watched as rivers thickened with pollutants, and the stench clouded the air. He observed how a major 1969 oil spill corrupted the Pacific coastline. He recognized the chemicals in foods, and spoke eloquently about the values of the country — “where bigger is not necessarily better—where slower can be faster—and where less can be more.”

“I recall…a frozen lemon cream pie on the market which was found to be nothing but a combination of chemicals,” he told an interviewer in 1973. “The pie actually had no lemon in it, or any cream or even any flour. When food contains no food, that is certainly time for action.” 

Nelson had also supported a 1963 bill to ban detergents from water supplies to stop the foaming of rivers and lakes, and in 1965, he introduced legislation to ban dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT). Nelson, like a growing number of 1960s policy makers and politicians, recognized that natural resources across the country, and the world, were priceless and needed protection.

Nelson wasn’t the only one in U.S. history who articulated concerns for industrial treatment of the country’s ecology. Many preceded him, and many more have followed, crafting legislation, rules, policies, curriculum, books and art that take on flagrant abuse of nature. But he was the one to galvanize the public around one day.

In 1970, Nelson proposed the idea of Earth Day before the U.S. Senate, "to rid America in the 1970s of the massive pollution from five of the most heavily used products of our affluent age" — the internal combustion engine, hard pesticides, detergent pollution, aircraft pollution and nonreturnable containers.

He reached across the aisle, getting Pete McCloskey, a Republican Congressman, to help organize the first-ever such day, and recruited Denis Hayes to build a staff of 85 to promote events across the land. It worked, and according to the Earth Day website, that first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.

Nelson did not stop there. He continued to lobby for regulating ocean oil drilling and mineral mining, developing mass transit, and raising the awareness of the American public about its environment; hence, Earth Day, and in the spirit of the 1970s, it evolved to become a countrywide teach-in.

Today, environmental protection continues its bumpy ride and Earth Day remains a prime symbol that much work remains. Through the decades of buzzwords — preservation, conservation and sustainability — humans continue to slop their mess into water and woods, and consume massive amounts of natural resources, mostly so that we can maintain lifestyles of ease and comfort, and to make money.

On the flip side, there are constant innovations and ideas on how to reduce environmental footprints. We affix solar panels on roofs, ride bikes, plant vegetable gardens in the densest of cities, build hives for honey bees and refuges for birds. We dream up new ways of living more lightly, despite massive and entrenched commercial systems that dictate otherwise.

“U.S. energy use over the past few years has been declining and increased energy efficiency may be a key factor,” according to the Earth Day organization.

According to a American Association for Energy-Efficient Economy report, “U.S. electricity sales experienced a peak in 2007, and have begun to fall since then. The electricity industry saw a 1.9 percent decline in sales from 2007-2012. Also, the first 10 months of 2013 saw lower overall sales than the first ten months of 2012. While the recession of 2008 offers an explanation for the drop in sales in 2008 and 2009, the continued decline in sales is thought to be a result of more efficient buildings, lighting, and appliances, as well as the erosion of U.S. manufacturing and more on-site generation. Hopefully the trend continues and even picks up speed in the coming years as buildings, lighting, and appliances continue to become more energy efficient.”

And, the American public is demanding more public transit.

“As far as the researchers are concerned, there are a few factors that could be the underlying causes of the rise in public transit use,” Earth Day said. “Rising gas prices were thought to be of significant impact, although public transit use still increased from 2008 to 2013, while gas prices fell. Another factor that may have contributed to the rise in public transit use was the U.S. economy coming back from the recession of 2007-2008.”

The Great Recession had a major effect on our habits, and expectations. Many scaled back simply because the money was just not there.

Still, there remains much to learn and do.

Oceans and beaches have become clogged with plastic — islands of plastic have formed in the Pacific and Atlantic, the result of tsunamis, hurricanes, and cargo ships destroyed by storms. Fuel spills continue to ravage land and sea, and the recycling of trash remains an inefficient process. And, wildlife remains prey to unscrupulous and cruel profiteers, who kill or traffic animals for the sole purpose of making money.

When the first Earth Days were organized, the U.S. citizenry responded to calls for a less pollution. Since then, we have studied, researched and gained new insight of earth science. A new generation of chemists, biologists, engineers and contractors have become versed creating buildings and energy production systems more closely aligned with Nelson’s ideals.

To live simply is to live worldly. And if you see a plastic cup laying on the ground, by the road or on the shore, pick it up. Recycle it. Clean up.

Gaylord Nelson, upon receiving an award: "Earth Day achieved what I had hoped for and then some. The purpose of Earth Day was to get a nationwide demonstration of concern for the environment so large that it would shake the political establishment out of its lethargy and, finally, force this issue permanently into the political arena. Having criss-crossed the nation speaking on environmental issues during the previous eight or nine years it was dear to me that the public was far ahead of the politicians and given an opportunity they would demonstrate their interest. It was a gamble but it worked. It got the attention of the politicians. An estimated twenty million people participated in peaceful demonstrations all across the country. Ten thousand schools, two thousand colleges and one thousand communities were involved.

It was truly an astonishing grassroots explosion. For the first time people were given the opportunity to demonstrate their deep concern about what was happening in their own communities and across the nation--polluted air, rivers, lakes and oceans; health threatening hazardous wastes; urban blight; pesticide and herbicide poisoning of people, plants, birds and animals; the destruction of scenic beauty and wildlife habitats. All of this swirling around them and the politicians didn't seem to know, understand or care. But the people cared and Earth Day became the first opportunity they ever had to join in a nationwide demonstration to send a big message to the politicians — a message to tell them to wake up and do something."

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. ~Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977