53 years ago, Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis) identified April 22, 1970, as the first Earth Day.
In a world beset with the challenges of habitat loss, air and water pollution, pesticides, concerns about biodiversity, over-population, . . . Senator Nelson and a group of visionaries and dreamers created a day of action and concern for the health of the globe to ensure “A Future Worth Living.”
Today, Earth Day has become a Global Day of activism and advocacy, reflecting on the health of our planet and those – both human and wildlife – who live upon it. It is estimated that 1 billion people will participate in Earth Day activities this year.
At the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, we celebrate our remarkable natural gifts in this place we call home, at the southernmost edge of the largest remaining intact ecosystem in the Northern Hemisphere. We also contemplate the health of our wild places and “A Future Worth Living” within them.
There is no question that the pressures on Jackson Hole, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and the wildlife we share with them are greater than at any time in memory.
The Alliance’s upcoming “Teton County Human-Wildlife Coexistence Monitoring Report” provides an eye-opening look at the interactions between wildlife and the growing human population of Teton County.
At the Conservation Alliance, we celebrate those who have come before us, who have protected so much of the wild places in Jackson Hole. We will continue to focus on protecting those wild places and the wildlife, as we seek out new and effective ways to advance our advocacy and develop better, more effective ways to advance coexistence with wildlife.
We thank you, our supporters and friends, for sharing your support, thoughts, ideas and concerns on how we can give our wildlife and our community “A Future Worth Living” in Jackson Hole. Happy Earth Day!
To spread the word on what the Conservation Alliance is working on, and planning for this summer, tell a friend of friends to sign up for the “Conservation Chronicle” newsletter. And if you’d like to support our work, click here – and thank you!
Photo by Anna Knaeble