Indignation into action

On the first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970, approximately ten percent of all Americans took part in protests and rallies, calling for the complete overhaul of the environmental system in a country that had seemed to give carte blanche to its largest polluters, with nary a slap on the hand.

It was the equivalent of rocket launch missile of concern and immediacy that said that our planet was in dire trouble, and the message reached around the world and led to environmental regulations, organizations and legislations – the breathtaking birth of what became a global consciousness.

Beginning on Jan. 20, 2025, however, the efforts of millions of private citizens and hundreds of environmental agencies in the U.S. began to tumble unceremoniously into the abyss.

During the first two days of his second term in office, President Trump began a tumbledown of anti-environmental executive orders. He froze in-progress climate, clean air and consumer protections. He authorized the federal government to expedite permitting and approval of fossil fuel, infrastructure, and mining projects and circumvent Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act requirements. He withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement that reversed the country’s commitment to addressing climate change and reducing pollution. He revoked climate crisis and environmental justice executive actions instituted by the Biden administration.

He put an end to clean car regulations that required automakers to reduce tailpipe pollution from vehicles by 2027. He reauthorized liquid natural gas drilling. He rescinded an order requiring the

White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to assess environmental and community impacts and allow community input into federal infrastructure projects.

He authorized the reopening of U.S. coastline to offshore drilling. He ended the American Climate Corps, which had created thousands of jobs for those who wished to combat climate change. He withdrew wind energy development from U.S. waters and federal lands. He reopened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and other territories in the region to drilling.

Again, these executive orders were completed in Trump’s first two days in office. Soon after, he fired members of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board; suspended funding for Solar For All, an Inflation Reduction Act program that delivers clean energy and lower prices to vulnerable communities; and scrubbed the words “climate change” from all federal websites; and, perhaps most damaging of all, he recently ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Department, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and Fish and Wildlife Service to amend their regulations so that they expire by October 2026.

“By rescinding outdated regulations that serve as a drag on progress, we can stimulate innovation and deliver prosperity to everyday Americans,” the memo said. 

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For certain, the chopping block approach to environmental safety by the Trump administration has been both erratic, unpredictable and irresponsible, and as this blatant disregard for our safety continues to reveal itself, many of us – Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals – are at our wits end of patience.

Yet on the 55th anniversary of the first Earth Day, we must be reminded that the last half century of progress made in fighting pollution and environmental enemies has not been achieved by the stroke of a pen, but by grassroots action. Our nation’s elected officials did not lead the charge on that day; globally conscious Americans did, and against the grain of this scorched-Earth dismantling of our nation’s environment, there is a silver lining in the formation of hundreds of regional, statewide and national organizations. It is time for us to call on them to step up again, and in a more fervent sense, for us to join their ranks.

Our climate, the safety of our children and our future generations, and the next centuries of our Earth are all dangling by a thin thread. Left to marinate on its own, our private rage is toxic. We must transform our self-combustible indignation into a collective action, and we must move forward with clear thought and a renewed commitment.

The following is a list of local, regional and statewide environmental agencies that you can learn more about and join:

Brandywine Red Clay Alliance: www.brandywineredclay.org.

Chester County Environmental Alliance: www.chescoenvt.org.

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania: www.conservationpa.org.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful: www.keeppabeautiful.org.

Lancaster Conservancy: www.lancasterconservancy.org.

London Britain Township Land Trust: www.lblandtrust.org.

Natural Lands Trust: www.natlands.org.

The Naure Conservancy: www.nature.org.

North American Land Trust: www.northamericanlandtrust.org.

Open Land Conservancy of Chester County: www.openlandconservancy.org.

Penn Environment: www.environmentalamerica.org.