Today, I’m thankful for those that keep our world environmentally sound so I can stand up erect.
If you were a paleontologist, today might indeed be your lucky day. I found it interesting to discover that on this day (Dec 2) in 1927, a Canadian paleoanthropologist named Davidson Black, who incidentally worked as a professor at Peking University Union College, made a startling discovery. After another paleontologist had discovered some ancient human remnants at an excavation site known as Dragon Bone Hill, located outside of Beijing, Black decided he would dedicate his anthropologic research to this site. Low and behold, in late 1927, he discovered some human molars. In due time, fragments of a lower jaw and skull would be identified. On this day, Black announced to the Geological Society of China that he had discovered Sinanthropus pekinensis, a human species that stood erect. Unfortunately, in a transfer to the United States, the bones of ‘Peking Man’ were mysteriously lost.
Fortunately, on this exact day (Dec 2) in 1960, another important archaeological find was made. A British paleontologist named Louis Leakey, while excavating in Tanzania, would discover a similar species to what Black had described but much older in age – close to 1.4 million years old. Both discoveries by Black and Leakey were of a distant relative of ours, known as Homo erectus.
Now, as many of you probably know, Homo erectus is no longer with us on this planet. Although Homo erectus ‘walked’ the Earth for nearly two million years – the longest of any Homo species – the last of this early human ancestor would disappear on the island of Java in Indonesia close to a hundred thousand years ago – at a time that another much younger species, the Homo sapiens, was already taking hold throughout the world.
In fact, some have even postulated that the Homo sapiens (yes, our own ancestors!) actually brought a brutal demise to their fellow brethren. However, recent data suggest their extinction was actually tied to a more sinister cause - climate change. Recent data suggest that the last of the Homo erectus was probably living on Java Island, thriving as a species in the open country habitat on that isle. In fact, prior to 130,000 years ago, the land in that region was apropos for their survival – rich in savannas where the early humans could hunt elephants and other large early mammals. Then, a change in climate spread across Java, warming the temperature and changing the environment into lush rainforests. Homo erectus was not well equipped to survive in this new environment, and they probably passed away gradually in time over the next 10,000 years (give or take a few 1,000 years).
Now, we all like to think that this could never happen again to the Homo sapiens, a much more durable, technologically-advanced society of humans. Or could it?
We live in a world where the warming of the planet is a proven fact (there, I said it, as I brazenly throw down the gauntlet to all those who get viscerally upset every time someone mentions the term ‘global warming’). I’m not saying anything that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not been already proclaiming for decades. They’ve fittingly chronicled this ‘inconvenient truth’ that we’re seeing a steady increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the environment, a sizable reduction of the ice core in Antarctica, and a frightening rise in actual temperature data. For the last 50 years, the EPA has basically been trying to save the human species from itself.
And, the impact of their work is both palpable and measurable. Prior to 1970, we witnessed repeated bouts of smog in cities like Los Angeles and New York. Air pollution was a constant threat hanging over many cities in the United States, ultimately contributing to increasing rates of chronic lung disease and cancer. In some cities, rivers would routinely catch on fire because of oil-streaked debris hovering on the surface of the water. In fact, in Cleveland, where the oil from train tracks routinely dripped in the Cuyahoga River, more than a dozen fires raged in less than a century, with the latest occurring in 1969. And, in the same year, a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara killed thousands of birds, fish, and other wildlife. Sadly, such oil spills were common annual occurrences off the coast of the United States coastline. The situation got so bad that President Richard Nixon decided to form a federal agency dedicated entirely to the environment. On this day (Dec 2) in 1970, the EPA was founded.
So, what did the EPA do?
They issued regulation that helped reduce common air pollutants, like sulfur dioxide, by more than two-thirds. They helped curtail the use of leaded gasoline, lead paint, and lead in water. They passed measures to limit the use of toxic chemicals, such as DDT, or toxic-building materials, like asbestos. They basically eliminated the threat of acid rain, while helping to increase nationwide solid waste recycling and sewage treatment. They took on the tobacco industry with regard to secondhand smoke, by claiming it as dangerous, thereby significantly reducing the rates of tobacco smoking in the United States. Finally, they’ve protected the wetlands, whose loss over the last 4 decades has been reduced by over 95 percent.
So, on this day when we celebrate the 50th birthday of the EPA, I'm grateful for all the devoted scientists, engineers, and professionals at the EPA who persevere to do their jobs despite numerous obstacles. I express my sincere gratitude for the courageous stalwarts at this organization who have dedicated their careers to conducting research to promote our understanding of the environment and the effects we, as humans, have on it.
Administrations may come and go, but the heroes at the EPA are the ones who keep the mission alive. Thank you for helping to ensure that we don’t become like our brethren – you know, the Homo erectus.
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