Today we celebrate the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day, an event which began on April 22, 1970. The year 2013 is also the 43rd anniversary of the National Environmental Policy Act, a law which has influenced all areas of professional environmental practice. One of the most important concepts in NEPA is its focus on environmental significance, a concept which was the forerunner of today’s discussions about thresholds and tipping points. It is the purpose of NEPA, and our purpose as practitioners, to identify those impacts which are beyond the routine, which take us in a new, not necessarily good, direction, and which threaten the uniqueness of our region. When these impacts are identified, it is our task, consistent with NEPA and the numerous related environmental laws, to propose measures that will mitigate these impacts, including avoidance, minimization, restoration, and compensation.
As we think about environmental significance, it is worth remembering what archaeologists and biologists have learned about Easter Island, also called Rapa Nui. More than 2,300 miles from South America and 1,400 miles from the nearest Polynesian island, nine-mile-wide Easter Island is remote—so remote that only one influx of people, perhaps in a party of only 20 or 30, is believed to have settled the island about 900 to 1200 CE. Eventually, the population increased to several thousand. Once settled, the colonists were likely trapped.
Easter is home to more than 900 50-foot-tall, 250-ton statues carved from the volcanic rock found on the island. These were erected between the 10th and 16th centuries and once lined roads leading from the volcanic quarry to other spots on the island. In addition to the statues, the human community created ceremonial shrines and the only written language in Oceania. Caves around the coast contain paintings of deities, birds, and fertility symbols.
The grasses and shrubs found when the islands were first seen by Europeans were not the original vegetation. Pollen in swamps indicates the existence of a giant palm and 20 other tree species. The palm was gone by 1450, and other large trees by 1650. Deforestation, most likely caused by the combination of humans and introduced rats, began around 1280. Humans may have used the trees to move the statues, while rats introduced by the humans likely ate the seeds and kept them from reproducing. The last statue was carved in 1680, just before Europeans visited in 1722.
At some point, a few islanders must have realized that their lives were going to change for the worse when all the trees were gone. Yet, in what was surely a moment of profound tragedy, they were unable to stop it. Their civilization collapsed. We may never know if they could have done more.
A current concern is climate change. The Earth Day Network website notes that the year 2012 was marked by many climate change milestones. Arctic sea-ice cover reached a record low in September. The United States experienced its hottest year ever; this, after the World Meteorological Organization announced that the first decade of this century was the hottest on record for the entire planet. Superstorms rocked the Caribbean, the Philippines and the northeastern United States; droughts plagued northern Brazil, Russia, China, and two-thirds of United States; exceptional floods inundated Nigeria, Pakistan, and parts of China.
Can we avoid the Rapa Nui moment with climate change, or is it already too late? Should we do more? We do not know the answers, and some will not admit there is a potential problem. But as environmental professionals it is our job to be on the lookout for those Rapa Nui moments. It is a complex world, and there were no simple answers when the trees were falling on Rapa Nui, as there are no simple answers today. It might have been the rats, it might have been the humans, or it might have been both. But when the trends are pointing in the wrong direction, environmental professionals are needed to contribute to the health and sustainability of our only home, the planet Earth.
Harold Draper, NAEP President
