How the Environment Has Changed since the First Earth Day 50 Years Ago

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April 22, 2020

Dear Reader, On April 22, 1970, millions of Americans took part in cleanup activities and protest actions to mark the first Earth Day. That same year would see the creation of the EPA and a series of important environmental laws. In today's main story, we take a look at a few environmental indicators to see what progress has—or has not—been made since that inaugural Earth Day 50 years ago.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

EARTH How the Environment Has Changed since the First Earth Day 50 Years Ago These charts show that while progress has been made in some areas, humanity still has a major impact on the planet By Andrea Thompson

Medical & Biotech Snorkeling Mask Apparatus Might Help COVID-19 Patients Avoid Intubation The jury-rigged breathing aid, invented to deal with ventilator shortages, is now being tested as a kinder, gentler alternative to a tube in the trachea By Emily Willingham

Environment The Green New Deal Is More Relevant Than Ever The four interconnected crises now challenging the U.S. call for radical economic restructuring By Ray Galvin,Noel Healy

Medicine Hundreds of People Volunteer to Be Infected with Coronavirus Support grows for a controversial 'human challenge' vaccine study—but no trial is yet planned By Ewen Callaway,Nature magazine

Environment The Trump Administration's Assault on Public Health Protections It's a bitter counterpoint to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day By Rachel Cleetus,J. H. McNamara

Natural Disasters Researchers Claim Rainfall Triggered Kilauea Eruption, but Others Remain Skeptical Heavy rains may have put pressure on the Hawaiian volcano's underground plumbing, setting off its major 2018 eruption By Shannon Hall

Neuroscience Five Types of Research, Underexplored until Recently, Could Produce Alzheimer's Treatments Research into the brain's protein-disposal systems, electrical activity and three other areas looks promising By Kenneth S. Kosik

Environment Food Dumped During Pandemic Comes with an Emissions Price Tag With supply chains disrupted, farms and dairies have had to throw away their goods, wasting the energy spent to produce them By Bev Banks,E&E News

Environment Air Pollution, COVID-19 and Earth Day The Trump Administration wants to scale back on Clean Air Act enforcement—even as we learn that places with more pollution have more coronavirus deaths

Conservation Jane Goodall: We Can Learn from This Pandemic In a teleconference promoting her participation in Earth Day events on the National Geographic Channel, Goodall talked about what gives her hope during the pandemic and what she hopes we all learn from it. By Steve Mirsky | 02:48

FROM THE STORE Ask the Experts: The Environment The fourth eBook in our Ask the Experts series, The Environment tackles questions about the world around us. In these pages, our experts field queries on the weather, natural disasters, natural resources, climate change and unusual phenomena.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE The Earth Day Pioneer Nobody Remembers Ed Muskie ran for vice president in 1968 and served as Jimmy Carter's Secretary of State—but his legacy as an environmentalist is often forgotten By John Copeland Nagle | April 2016

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard." Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day

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