News Release 205

MISSOURI'S EARTH DAY HISTORY PARALLELS
DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR DOYLE CHILDERS' DEVELOPMENT

Volume 36-205

Contact: Connie Patterson

(For immediate release)

573-751-1010

JEFFERSON CITY, MO., APRIL 15, 2008 -- As our nation celebrated the first Earth Day 38 years ago on April 22, 1970, I had just returned from working with the Peace Corps in rural Costa Rica, where I had helped to put together the community's first public water system. Even at that time, people were growing concerned that the loss of rain forests was affecting soil and water quality, so we were eager to protect a fragile habitat. Nearby Panama was facing similar difficulties; loss of rain forests there had reduced stream flow in some areas.

After returning to the United States, I decided to go back to college at the College of the Ozarks. I found myself in a group of students that included Chuck Kroeger and Dan Leyland, who later worked for the Department of Natural Resources.

These interests led to a career as a science teacher until I was elected to my first term in the Missouri Legislature. I had the opportunity to serve on the Natural Resources Committee, which was a good orientation for 22 years in the House and Senate.

My experiences with the Peace Corps, as a science teacher, as a farmer and as a businessman gave me a broad appreciation of the environment and serving in the legislature taught me how to communicate effectively. These were some of the factors that brought me to where I am today.

The Department of Natural Resources, at 34 years old, is younger than Earth Day, but our main offices are now in the first platinum award LEED-certified state office building in the country. The use of recycled resources and energy savings in the Lewis and Clark State Office Building will serve as an example for years to come.

Although trying to develop effective procedures for protecting natural resources is often a contentious process, it is important to note that the federal government has delegated to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources limited authority to follow and enforce the federal laws over our environment. Without this authorization, the state would have to fit its environmental protection efforts to one nationwide pattern, rather than one that more closely fits the needs of our own citizens, farms and businesses.

Water quality has always been a major issue dominating many environmental discussions. In the decades ahead, depending on rainfall trends, Missouri may face a new challenge: Our focus may grow to include not only water quality, but water quantity as well. This is a growing worldwide concern. Businesses are investing in water resources like they once invested in oil wells. Missouri has traditionally had plentiful water, but we could soon face shortages similar to some of our neighboring states.

Thanks to citizen involvement, after 38 years of Earth Days, we have moved a long way from the conditions that existed then. The air is much cleaner. I recall seeing the fairly new Gateway Arch in St. Louis when only the top stood gleaming in the sun. The bottom was shrouded in a yellowish, tan smog cloud. Since that first Earth Day, in addition to water issues, hazardous waste sites have been cleaned up, nuclear wastes left from the World War II Manhattan Project are being addressed, and lead and coal mine sites are being cleaned up. Likewise, in terms of tons of soil lost to erosion, we have moved down the list quite a bit from being the second worst in the nation.

During that first Earth Day, my classmates and I promoted cleanup activities on Table Rock Lake and along the White River, as well as participating in campus events. It was the great environmental awakening of its time that strongly influenced our lives. This April, I hope you'll take an opportunity to participate in a community cleanup, visit an Earth Day fair or even just take a few moments to discuss the celebration with your family. Help someone else experience the environmental awakening that so many of us shared on the first Earth Day. 

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Editor: Photos available at http://www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel/childerspeacecorps1.jpg and http://www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel/childerspeacecorps2.jpg.

Caption: Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Doyle Childers (on right in first photo) began his career in environmental protection by serving in the Peace Corps in the early 1970s.