Earth Day and Its Precursors

Webber, David J. "Earth Day and Its Precursors: Continuity and Change in the Evolution of Mid twentieth-Century U.S. Environmental Policy." Review of Policy Research Vol. 25 Issue 4 (July 2008): 313-332.

This article looks at the formation of Earth Day in the 1970's and how public opinions of the current presidency and congress led them to reevaluate how they looked at and treated the environment in the United States. The article looks at the positive and negative effects of the establishment of Earth Day. While it looks to protect the environment and raise awareness to the citizens of the United States, many believe that it often belittles the real natural dangers the environment is in and doesn't put a more thoughtful approach to fix them.

The purpose of this literature review is to reexamine the importance of the Earth Day and to see if it really is all that positive on the environment of the United States. It uses previous information, that is all cited so others can read it as well, and analyzes it to see if it was helpful to the cause or not. I think it is to be used by everyone to raise awareness that just by having a day dedicated to celebrating the Earth, is not necessarily helping the environment out.

This is a qualitative study because it is more a complete description rather than looking at numbers or surveys. The researcher collects data by having in-depth interviews with people closely related to the topic. This way of collecting data is sound because it helps to show the different sides of the topic by talking to the most informed people on the topic.

I think this article violates the rule about avoiding emotional reasoning. I think the research would have been better examined and presented if the researcher didn't immediately say how he felt Earth Day had a negative connotation. It put a taint on the whole article and was hard to overlook and to examine the other side to make an informed opinion on my own.