Happy EARTH DAY, AKA Friday.
It’s kind of an extra special Earth Day because it’s the 50th anniversary of the event first proposed in in 1969 by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, but not formally realized until April 22, 1970, which was also the same year that the Nixon administration established the Environmental Protection Agency AND passed the Clean Air Act.
Here in the Empire State, New York City Mayor John Lindsay, who had created the nation’s first municipal Environmental Protection Administration in 1968, closed Fifth Avenue to cars and delivered a speech to mark the day. (If you have some time, this online history put together by the Museum of the City of New York is well worth visiting).
The very name “Earth Day” has New York roots – it was the brainchild of ad man Julian Koenig, who reportedly liked the moniker because it rhymed with “birthday”.
Not to put too fine a point on it – or toot your own horn much – but this is how the EPA website puts it:
It may be hard to imagine that before 1970, a factory could spew black clouds of toxic smoke into the air or dump tons of toxic waste into a nearby stream, and that was perfectly legal. They could not be taken to court to stop it.
How was that possible? Because there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act. There were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment.
The concept of Earth Day was reportedly first proposed at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco by peace activist John McConnell. He suggested that the day be observed on the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere – March 21.
Sen. Nelson picked up the idea, but turned it into a national teach-in, and he hired an activist named Denis Hayes to run the event, which was an enormous success – reportedly more than 20 million people turned out across the U.S. for what is said to be the largest single-day protest in human history.
As for why April 22, this was all I could find: “The date was selected in part because it fell between colleges’ spring break and final exams, and also from the observance of Arbor Day, which began in Nebraska in 1872, a day when people are encouraged to plant trees.”
Planting trees, BTW, is a good way to celebrating Earth/Arbor Day. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, in one year a mature tree will absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen in exchange.
Earth Day now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org, including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. The official theme for this year’s celebration is Invest In Our Planet.
Some important environmental milestones have occurred on this day in history – including the signing in 2016 of the Paris Agreement, which, FWIW, the U.S. officially rejoined when President Biden took office.
If you’re looking for a reason to pay attention, look no further than this: Unless we take urgent and collective action to curb emissions, the world is on course to reach 3.2°C above pre-industrial levels, according to the UN.
We’ve got a great forecast for being outside. “Abundant sunshine” and high temperatures in the low 60s. The weekend is also looking pretty good, with temperatures rising into the low 70s on Sunday. GET OUTSIDE!
In the headlines…
Russia said it had taken control of Mariupol, presenting it as one of its first victories in the conflict, though Ukrainian forces were still blockaded inside a vast steel plant in the city and said they were continuing to launch attacks on Russian positions.
President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in Mariupol despite persistent fighting there, publicly calling off an assault on the final Ukrainian stronghold in the devastated city in a stark display of the Kremlin’s desire to present a success to the Russian public.
Ukrainian officials yesterday met with leaders abroad to call for additional financial support as their country reels from devastating attacks from Russian forces and a disrupted economy.
Senior Biden administration officials say they believe that the next four weeks will shape the eventual outcome of Russia’s war in Ukraine, with long-lasting ramifications that will influence the drawing of the map of Europe for decades to come.
Donald Trump Jr., former President Donald J. Trump’s eldest son, has agreed to meet soon with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a person familiar with matter.
An associate of former White House adviser Steve Bannon pleaded guilty to screwing over donors to a “We Build the Wall” charity aimed at funding a section of wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief of staff Tina Flournoy is leaving her position after 15 months — joining a growing list of Harris aides who have called it quits over the past year.
The CDC’s panel of independent vaccine experts signaled an unwillingness to endorse fourth Covid shots for the broader U.S. population until the agency adopts a clear strategy.
The Food and Drug Administration could authorize a Covid-19 vaccine for children under age 5 in June, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Given that at its peak in January, more than 800,000 people were getting COVID-19 on average each day, questions have swirled about how some people have managed to escape the coronavirus so far.
A health-care worker has reportedly tested positive for the omicron strain of the coronavirus just 20 days after having an infection caused by the delta variant, according to Spanish researchers.
International travelers arriving at land ports of entry or ferry terminals in the United States must continue to show proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Foreign businesses are struggling to bring workers back to factories after weeks of lockdowns in Shanghai, as the country battles its worst Covid outbreak since the pandemic began.
Stephen Colbert tested positive for COVID yesterday, canceling the night’s episode of “The Late Show.” Colbert, 57, said that he felt fine and had received three vaccine doses.
Dozens of NYC Education Department employees will be placed on unpaid leave for submitting fake COVID vaccine cards to satisfy the agency’s mandate, officials said.
A NYC worker can’t use his belief in the religion of Dudeism — born of the movie “The Big Lebowski” — as a legitimate reason for exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for municipal employees, according to internal Law Department emails.
Four days after Philadelphia became the first major American city to reinstate an indoor mask mandate in response to rising coronavirus cases, the city health department announced that the mandate would be lifted because of improving conditions.
Applications for unemployment benefits inched down last week as the total number of Americans collecting aid fell to its lowest level in more than 50 years.
Jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 184,000 last week, the Labor Department said. The four-week average of claims, which levels out week-to-week volatility, rose by 4,500 to 177,250.
About 1.42 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment benefits in the week of April 9, the fewest since February 21, 1970.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell affirmed the central bank’s determination to bring down inflation and said that aggressive rate hikes are possible as soon as next month.
The Republican-held Florida legislature passed a bill seeking to dissolve a special district that allows the Walt Disney Company to act as its own government within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties.
The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made clear he would sign it.
A repeal of Disney’s self-government status in Florida could leave local taxpayers with more than $1 billion in bond debt, according to tax officials and legislators.
A New York appeals court ruled that new House districts drawn by Democrats violated the state’s ban on partisan gerrymandering, partially upholding a lower-court ruling that would block the state from using the lines in this year’s critical midterm elections.
The state Appellate Division in Rochester issued a split decision upholding a lower court’s ruling that threw out the Democrat-drawn congressional districts, finding they violated the state constitution’s ban on drawing lines to benefit a particular party.
“We are satisfied that petitioners established beyond a reasonable doubt that the Legislature acted with partisan intent,” the three-judge majority wrote in its opinion. Two judges dissented.
But the appeals court reinstated New York’s newly drawn state Senate and Assembly district lines, which the trial court judge had also tossed on procedural grounds.
The decision gives state lawmakers until the end of the month to redraw the lines. But Democrats, who have supermajorities in the state Senate and Assembly, are planning to challenge the decision to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
Gov. Kathy Hochul won’t ask indicted ex-Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin to move out of state to get his name off the June primary ballot, but says she’s keeping her increasingly limited options open as the state Board of Elections prepares to finalize the ballot by May 4.
Hochul condemned a video of Syracuse police officers apprehending a young boy for stealing a bag of chips, calling the footage “heart wrenching.”
Former President Bill Clinton joined Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to promote the release of the “Empire Building playbook,” billed as a blueprint for how building owners can cut down on carbon emissions produced by office buildings.
Adams seemed unaware that his NYPD detectives had nabbed David Bonola, the man accused of stabbing to death Queens mom Orsolya Gaal when he spoke to reporters more than an hour after police announced the bust.
A Queens handyman’s last visit to the home of his married lover, Gaal, ended in horror, and he confessed to stabbing the woman dozens of times as their heated argument exploded into a gruesome homicide, authorities charged.
Adams refused to rule out supporting a controversial recommendation that the Big Apple’s rent regulator approve major hikes — as much as 9% over two years — for stabilized apartments.
A Black Lives Matter leader who last year threatened “riots,” “fire” and “bloodshed” if Adams cracked down on crime, blamed him for letting New York City turn into a “war zone” while also using racial invective against the Big Apple’s second black leader.
A guard at Queens’ Resorts World Casino — where security is run by an adviser to Adams — was busted for planning a heist of the gambling spot’s armored vehicles, federal prosecutors said.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and several of her City Council colleagues demanded that the mayor increase funding for housing and the homeless as part of his first budget proposal — a plan which is still in the process of being finalized.
Rep. Lee Zeldin claims to hold a massive 30-point lead over his rivals in the GOP primary for governor, citing an internal campaign poll, but his foes are wondering why then his supporters are working so hard to keep them from being on the ballot.
The day before Friday’s Earth Day, and during Earth Week, state Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos said his agency was launching a weeklong “blitz” to crack down on diesel trucks that are out of compliance with emission standards.
The design phase of a new $750 million Wadsworth Center, the state’s public health lab and research center, is moving forward, Hochul announced.
Hochul recently announced the permanent protection of 1,175 acres of forested lands adjoining Pittstown State Forest on the Rensselaer Plateau in the town of Grafton.
Recreational marijuana sales begin in New Jersey, marking the first time cannabis is legally available for nonmedical purposes in the New York City and Philadelphia regions.
New York City will receive nearly $90 million worth of opioid overdose prevention and education efforts this year funded by settlements with large pharmaceutical companies, state Attorney General Letitia James announced.
A Republican challenger called on James to return tens of thousands of dollars in donations from a real estate developer linked to indicted ex-Lt. Gov. Benjamin — but it appears she has already given away or returned most if not all of the cash.
A group of New York city and state pension funds that collectively own more than $5 billion of Amazon stock are urging fellow shareholders to vote against re-election of two board members for what the institutions say are failures to protect worker safety.
A 6-year-old boy was in critical condition after plunging from the roof of a six-story Bronx building down an elevator shaft, the police and fire officials said.
A complaint about “inappropriate behavior” by the actor Bill Murray has led Searchlight Pictures to suspend production of “Being Mortal,” a movie that was written and is being directed by Aziz Ansari, according to a person working on the production.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany’s effort to keep secret the psychological treatment records of suspected pedophile priests was rejected by a state appellate court in a ruling that could affect thousands of Child Victims Act cases in New York.
George “Skip” Parsons, the area’s leading evangelist for Dixieland jazz over a 65-year career before Capital Region audiences as bandleader and clarinetist, died at the age of 86.
Some Albany residents will be getting a little bit of help if they’re looking to fix a porch or create some green space through the city’s Love Your Block grant program.
CNN is shutting down its streaming service CNN+ about a month after it launched, a sign of its new owners’ lack of faith in the viability of a subscription-based stand-alone news platform.
Network insiders were horrified to learn that all junior staffers at the streaming service were let go. The roughly 300 staffers were offered six months’ severance as well as first dibs on job opportunities within CNN, according to sources.
Elon Musk said that he had commitments worth $46.5 billion to finance his proposed bid for Twitter and was exploring whether to launch a hostile takeover for the social media company.
