On the eve of the 40th Birthday of Earth Day, we are beginning Bioengineering Group’s blog to exchange ideas on sustainable action. We are purposefully calling this year’s Earth Day a “birthday” versus an “anniversary.” It was the birth of a movement of environmental consciousness. And it’s going strong.
We believe the Earth is robust and, left alone, tries to repair itself. A great example is the natural recovery of one of the worst volcanic eruptions on US soil: Mount St. Helens. The May 2010 issue of National Geographic has done a terrific feature on it. Their headline says it all: “Thirty years after the blast, Mount St. Helens is reborn again.”
From day one, Bioengineering Group has been committed to promoting the concept of sustainability and reversing impacts that have damaged our environment. Therefore, we don’t like to use the words “protect our planet” as if it’s on life support; we prefer to use “restore our planet” instead. We know we can rethink the way we build and transact sustainability with every dollar we spend, site by site, project by project.
We created this 2-minute video, “Rethink | Sustainability,” to promote sustainability in honor of Earth Day’s 40th birthday. We look forward to hearing what YOU think about it.
Learn more. Be inspired. www.bioengineering.com/earthday
Bioengineering Blog
Earth Day's Birthday
On the eve of Earth Day’s 40th Birthday, I had to share this article. Fred Kent is a venerable leader and a professional friend.
I thought you might like to read about his story as one of the coordinators of the first Earth Day back in 1970 and his positive impact since then.
I thought you might like to read about his story as one of the coordinators of the first Earth Day back in 1970 and his positive impact since then.
Transformative Times: Earth Day 1970, Placemaking, and Sustainability Today
By Fred Kent
40 years ago this week, I coordinated the first Earth Day celebration in New York City. The city had never seen anything like it.
We were laying the groundwork for a new way of looking at the world--expanding the public's thinking beyond the limited vision that characterized fields like industry, economics, science and politics to embrace a much larger view of the whole planet.
Earth Day transformed New York-literally. To draw attention to protecting the environment in cities, we turned Fifth Avenue into a "place" by eliminating traffic from 59th Street to Union Square. People poured out of offices and apartments to walk down the middle of the most important street in New York on a beautiful spring day. (This was five years before I founded Project for Public Spaces, but you can see the idea was already germinating.)
It was a lot of fun for everyone, but also a potent symbol that this new movement could bring great, positive changes to our lives. And ideas born on the first Earth Day are coming to fruition today.
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