Commemorating Earth Day amid battle to protect environmental regulations and policies
Left: Gas-masked marchers and a dragon labeled "garbage eater" arrive in Chicago's Civic Center Plaza for the first observance of Earth Day, April 22, 1970. Right: An Ecology Flag sewn by the mother of a student at Lanphier High School in Springfield, Illinois. It was carried from the school to the Illinois State Capitol Building on Earth Day 1970, as part of a project facilitated by Lanphier science teacher Ray Bruzan. The flag is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. AP Photo/ Charles E. Knoblock and Raymond Bruzan/Lanphier High School via Smithsonian
Today is Earth Day. The Ecology Flag roughly follows the design of the American flag, but with a Greek letter Theta in the corner. The Ecology Flag was seen across America on Earth Day — including at Lanphier High School in Springfield, Illinois. That’s where a science teacher named Ray Bruzan had turned Room 308 into an “Environmental Action Center” during that school year. Today that flag is in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
In the years that followed, the federal government created the EPA, strengthened the Clean Air Act, and passed the Clean Water Act. For a long time, protecting the environment was something Democrats and Republicans agreed upon. In the present age, the Trump administration has moved to dismantle many of those foundational protections — including an attempt to revoke the legal underpinning for all federal greenhouse gas regulation.
Meanwhile, here in Illinois, Democratic leaders are pursuing their own clean energy policies — and fighting the federal government in court to do it. Two of Illinois' leading environmental advocates join the conversation.
GUESTS
Jennifer Walling
Executive Director, Illinois Environmental Council (IEC)
Jack Darin
Chapter Director at Sierra Club Illinois
