Earth Day At 20

t began as a modest one-day event to raise awareness of the ecology movement.

Today, 40 years after its first American event and 20 years after it came to Canada and the rest of the world, Earth Day has become an international movement found in 170 countries that helps hundreds of millions become better citizens of the Earth.

But after decades of environmental activism, is the Earth any better off today that it was 20 years ago?

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“The public wants action, they’re looking for leadership, but they’re not getting it.”

This is especially true in Alberta, where the economy is underpinned by industries that are decidedly unfriendly to the environment, says a University of Alberta expert on the ecology movement.

Political science Prof. Laurie Adkin says there are a number of successful environmental advocacy groups in the province — Alberta Wilderness Association, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the Alberta Environmental Network, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club — that are “successful in so far that they have simply survived in this environment.

“They have taken on the role that should have been performed by the ministry of the environment.”
Alberta’s political culture, and the province’s “utter devotion” to the oil and gas sector does not lend itself to a thriving ecology movement, Adkin says.

There are no public resources for non-governmental organizations and civil society groups. Even the mainstream media is structured so that there is little room for ecology groups to have their voice heard.