Posted
on December 2, 2016
In
the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has done a
really good job of helping to protect human health and the
environment by setting priorities, writing laws, and enforcing laws.
This
organization has literally changed the world – for the better.
The
EPA has worked on pesticides, air pollution, water pollution,
greenhouse gases and climate change, ozone depletion, trash/waste,
and much more.
With
more than 15,000 full-time employees, including many engineers and
scientists, the EPA is on the front lines standing against short-term
thinking and greed, standing up for a more global and long-term view
of human activity.
The
EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon, and he signed an
executive order bringing the agency into existence. It began
operations on this date in 1970.
This
is important: even though the Environmental Protection Agency was the
brainstorm of a Republican President, and even though it has been
widely viewed as effective and important, the current Republican
platform, the Republican president-elect, and the Republican-led
Congress all seem to want to abolish the EPA as we know it! The
platform urges the government to forbid the EPA to regulate carbon
dioxide – which is crazy, since that is one of the most important
greenhouse gases. It also calls for shifting responsibility for
environmental regulation to the states, ending the federal
government's ability to study the effects of pollution and to
establish policies and laws that safeguard our air, water, and land.
Instead of thinking long-term, big-picture, as the Republican Party
has in the past, the current version of the party seems to want to
crawl into a short-term, small-view that will be more
self-destructive than helpful to anyone and everyone!
Let's
celebrate the EPA today, on its birthday! And let's make sure it
stays the hard-working, effective agency it always has been.
 |
| One EPA success story that touches my life is the air quality in Southern California. When I was growing up, there was so so so so so so much smog, and so many days we were not allowed to play outside because of smog alerts. Now there are even more people and even more cars in the Los Angeles area, but the air is much much much much cleaner and clearer! |
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| My husband grew up in one of the biggest environmental disaster zones in the country, the Love's Canal area of Niagara Falls, NY. The first time he tried to show me what his old stomping grounds looked like, when we were adults, it looked like the fenced off area above. The last time we went there, it ALMOST looked like parkland, below. The old, unused houses had been removed, but there were still some old, unused roads. It was pretty but also pretty weird...The EPA is key to preventing new disasters and also healing old ones. |
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Their efforts in protecting human health and the environment are commendable. With tools like air quality monitors, such as those offered by us, we can continue to monitor and improve indoor air quality. Let's work together to perfect indoor climates and create a healthier environment for all.
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