The Cynic's Guide To Earth Day, 2018

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Ten years ago, Jeffrey Ball wrote this in the Wall Street Journal: "Launched in 1970 as a protest against corporate environmental misconduct, Earth Day has become a planet-hugging marketing frenzy for companies themselves. Makers of everything from snack chips to sport-utility vehicles now use April 22 to boast about their efforts to help save the planet."

Politicians have used the day for their own agendas as well. James Inhofe is the climate-denying Senator from Oklahoma who is arguably the most anti-environmental legislator in American history. In 2015, while Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, he observed Earth Day with a facepalming statement that both saluted environmental gains through new laws, and condemned any future efforts for further positive steps as trillion-dollar, job-killing "scare tactics."

Back to baseball, and other pro sports, for a moment. Here in the Atlanta area, we were blessed with three relatively new, perfectly serviceable pro sports palaces built in the 1990's. The football stadium was senior of the three, functioning for just short of 25 years. Nine years before demolition, the Georgia Dome got a $300 million facelift. Turner Field was born as the 1996 Olympic stadium, then stood for 20 years as a baseball park before conversion to a much smaller college football field. Philips Arena, the venue for basketball and other indoor events, opened in 1999 and is in the midst of a $200 million renovation.

Baseball's Atlanta Braves now play in the suburbs, at a location nearly devoid of public transportation. All told, the three sports palaces have sucked about two and a half billion dollars out of a mix of public and private funds to replace or refurbish buildings that didn't need replacing. The vast expenditure of resources isn't environmentally canceled out by recycling every last food wrapper or switching to LED lighting. These are places where Earth Day celebrations ring particularly hollow. But bear in mind here, I'm the cynic – not those who are at least devoting a day, a gesture, to protecting the planet. Taken alone, the tree plantings, recycling drives and trash pickups are unassailably good things. Taken as part of the big picture, they hardly represent what is needed to turn us away from a planetary shipwreck.

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http://www.ehn.org/a-cynics-guide-to-earth-day-2561769912.html