Waiting for the Comet

Like a comet orbiting the earth, widespread concern for the environment swings into view only periodically …
In between, when political action is unlikely, come quieter moments for laying plans, for collecting the ideas and solutions that will form the basis of the next environmental debate.
For that debate will surely come again, that comet will swing back into view …

From: Introduction to Hope, Human and Wild -
Bill McKibben (1995)

Twelve years later and I can see the comet coming. Everyday now, on TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, books and the Internet, environmental issues are getting more and more coverage. We will know the comet is here when our politicians wake up and take action on the environmental problems.

The comet was last here in the 60's and 70's. It was first sited when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring and got closer when 20 million people celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970. It was bright in the sky during the 70s with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passing of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Let's pray that this new comet will have similar results.