Former U.S. Senator from and Governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson


Happy Earth Day everybody.  This guy was Governor the year I was born, 1958, the first Democrat in 24 years.  The story goes he was inspired into politics by seeing the legendary Robert LaFollette, oft credited as one of the early mover shakers of the progressive movement, in person.  His Dad asked him if would like to get into politics one day and reportedly he answered that by the time he was old enough Mr LaFollette would have all the problems solved.  Ah the naiveté` of youth.  Little did he know that progressivism would go on to worsen every problem it addressed and LaFollette would give up on his Progressive party and return to his original home - - the Republican party, a factoid today's Wisconsin Progressives are loathe to remember.  
 
Of all his accomplishments Nelson is most famous for the founding of Earth Day in 1970.  His thinking was if they can have sit-ins on college campi for peace why not use the same method to increase environmental awareness.  It worked, and he deserves credit for it, but not necessarily the institutional environmental movement it spawned.

Most decrepit institutions, public schools, US Depts. of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, FBI, CIA, hell let's face most of the fed at every level, and unions in general to name a few, all started out with the best of intentions.  And once they reached institution status the mission inevitably turned from the original altruistic goals to perpetuating the institution.  The life cycle of a monopoly is as predictable as the sun rising in the east, and it always, always, ends up subverting it's original purpose for the sake of the bureaucracy. 

Well, not all is lost and sometimes good things actually come from good iintentions.  Though you might never hear it in the news, or from the institutions themselves, because actual progress on the original problem would diminish their necessity after all, here are a couple of signs of progress - - which, of course, should never be confused with progressive.

Air pollution is on its way to being eliminated entirely in the U.S. in about another 20 years. Levels of air pollution have fallen between 25 and 99 percent (depending on which pollutant you examine), with the nation's worst areas showing the most progress. For example, Los Angeles has gone from having nearly 200 high ozone days in the 1970s to less than 25 days a year today. Many areas of the Los Angeles basin are now smog-free year round.

Water pollution is more stubborn and harder to measure (and is being made worse in the Mississippi River basin by the government's crazy ethanol mandate), but here too there have been major improvements since the first Earth Day in 1970. The Great Lakes have been cleaned up, with many previously endangered species of birds now thriving. The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland doesn't catch fire any more. The amount of toxic chemicals used in American industry has fallen by 61 percent over the last 20 years, even as industrial output has grown. Forestland in the U.S. has been expanding at a rate of nearly 1 million acres a year over the last generation.

hat tip to powerline

So we have reason to celebrate Earth Day and give Mr Nelson the nod for an idea that actually worked, to a point, something rather unique for a Democrat.