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Dear Progressive Reader,

This coming Tuesday marks the fifty-fifth Earth Day and yet the climate has been almost unremarked in all of the recent news about the multitude of actions by the Trump Administration. Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg famously reminded world leaders ([link removed]) back in 2021, “There is no ‘planet B.’ ” In spite of this greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise ([link removed]) , and any and all efforts ([link removed]) to address the crisis seem to have been undone ([link removed]) or forgotten as President Donald Trump and his allies move to open drilling
([link removed]) on federal lands, roll back solar ([link removed]) and wind energy ([link removed]) initiatives, and even obliterate ([link removed]) the data that helps research the trends ([link removed].) . Meanwhile, unelected billionaire Elon Musk does seem to believe (like the fictional character in the 2021 film Don’t Look Up ([link removed]) )
that a “Planet B” is possible as he plans for ([link removed]) trips to Mars. But this week on our website Susan Bass, of Earthday.org (the organization descended from () the original group of Earth Day organizers), states ([link removed]) in an op-ed, “Amid the historic and sweeping cuts to federal agencies and programs being carried out by the Trump Administration, one truth has been overlooked: If we’re serious about cutting waste and protecting public funds, we must confront climate change head-on.”

Since its earliest days, The Progressive (first known as La Follette’s Weekly) has stood for the preservation of our environment. On March 13, 1909, in the magazine’s second month of existence, Robert M. La Follete wrote, “These questions are not of this day only, or of this generation. They belong to all the future. Their consideration requires that high moral tone which regards the Earth as the home of a posterity to whom we owe a sacred duty.” In April 1970, The Progressive turned over its pages to a group of environmental activists to help launch the first Earth Day. As I chronicled ([link removed]) in 2018, “Extra copies were printed and given to organizers and activists for a variety of events. Additional copies of the magazine were made available at a discount, and readers were encouraged to give copies to ‘those who influence policymakers.’ ” That special issue began with a call from Denis Hayes, a young organizer at the time, who explained:
“Articles on ecology generally tend to lead off with lists of disasters. But the shock effect of disasters is gone. Today such lists may even be counter-productive. They suggest we have a number of specific problems we must address. We don't. We have THE PROBLEM. All ecological concerns are interrelated parts of the problem of perpetuating life on this frail planet, and our approach to them must be holistic.”

The staff editorial in that package of articles, pointed out the importance of local activism: “Although the crisis of survival is man-made, the chances of survival and the achievement of a balance between man and nature are also in man's hands. Pollution and destruction have been the trademarks of our lust for profit and growth, but in recent years there have been signs—slight, to be sure—that an enlightened populace, mobilized for political action, can halt if not reverse the poisoning of our environment. We have brought together below a few examples of modest success achieved by an aroused people confronted by environmental challenge. These examples are not intended to indicate that the struggle ahead will be an easy one. Far from it. But they do suggest that an organized, militant community can achieve a measure of success in its own area even as the larger struggle is fought out on the national and global fronts.” Fifty years later, Tia Nelson, daughter of Earth Day founder
([link removed]!) then-U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, wrote ([link removed]) in the April 2020 issue of our magazine, “That first Earth Day ended up sparking a global movement that was successful beyond my father’s wildest dreams. It united people across political lines to take concrete steps toward a healthier planet, including passage of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.” And, she continued, “In recent years, the environmental community and the general public have begun to see our challenge through this lens. Groups like the Sunrise Movement ([link removed]) have framed the issue through a much-needed social justice viewpoint and helped give birth to a new movement that views the environment, the economy, and a socially just world as inextricably linked.”

Elsewhere on our website this week, Kerem Gençer presents a photo essay ([link removed]) on the April 5 demonstrations in Washington, D.C., to end the war in Gaza; Mike Ervin reports on ([link removed]) the role of people with disabilities in the fight to “block Elon Musk’s administrative vandalism;” and Rachel Hawley attends ([link removed]) the opening of a new museum that seeks to “rewrite the narrative on public housing.” Also, Paul Buhle discusses ([link removed]) two new books that highlight anti-racist activism in the 1960s and 1970s; and Joe George reviews ([link removed]) the new film Warfare, which is set as an
autobiographical war story that, as George notes, depicts “things that modern Americans would probably rather not look at.” Plus Jeff Bryant describes ([link removed]) the positive role played by community schools; Terrence Sullivan breaks down ([link removed]) the history of the campaign to dismantle the Department of Education; Diana Morose pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the need to stop the racist attacks on DEI; and virologist James Alwine opines ([link removed]) on the ways Trump is threatening life-saving health research projects.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

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