We remember the energy and the enthusiasm behind the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. In the magazine we were publishing at the time, Cultural Information Service, we shared some facts to be used in meetings across the country:

• The pesticide DDT has been discovered in many forms of wildlife — brown pelicans, peregrine falcons, and bald eagles, to name a few.

• The breast milk of American mothers now contains .2 parts per million of DDT, four times the "safe" level the U.S. federal government allows in cow's milk for human consumption.

• A person breathing New York City's air inhales as much benzopyrene, a cancer-inducing hydrocarbon, as he would if he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.

• The automobile accounts for at least 60 % of the total air pollution in the United States.

So long ago and yet so many environmental problems persist, despite 39 years of Earth Days and a succession of U.S. Presidents promising to deal with them in realistic and effective ways. Since the start of the grass-roots environmental movement, rich and powerful lobbyists representing the automobile, oil, and other industries have blocked legislation that would have made all the difference in the world in stemming the tide of environmental deterioration.

For this edifying documentary, director Robert Stone has brought together nine energetic and dedicated individuals who fought the good fight to save the Earth. They are:

• Stewart Udall, who served as Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He was instrumental in the passage of early laws to protect the environment.
• Denis Hayes, who was the chief organizer of the original Earth Day in 1970, which became the largest political demonstration in American history. He has since been active in the development of solar energy.
• Stewart Brand, the influential editor of Whole Earth Catalog. His work spear-headed the green "back-to-the-land" movement and also saluted technological solutions to ecological problems.
• Paul Ehrlich, one of the most charismatic spokespersons on the issue of population control. His bestselling book, The Population Problem (1968), laid out many of the challenges facing an overcrowded world with diminishing resources.
• Hunter Lovins, co-founder with her husband of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a leading organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency.
• Dennis Meadows, co-author of Limits to Growth (1972), a book that urged restraint on the use of natural resources and the escalating of consumerism.
• Stephanie Mills, who made a name for herself when she graduated from Mills College in 1969 and gave a controversial commencement address, "The Future Is a Cruel Hoax."
• Pete McCloskey, who served as a Republican Congressman from California from 1967 to 1983 and was co-chairman with Senator Gaylord Nelson of the original Earth Day in 1970.
• And, last but not least, Russell L. (Rusty) Schweickart, who served as Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 9 in 1969. He then served on the staff of Governor Jerry Brown of California and later was that state's Commissioner of Energy.

Stone does a good job tracing the genesis of the environmental movement beginning in the 1950s and spurred on by the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's bestseller Silent Spring and ending in the 1986 when President Reagan removed the solar panels on the roof of the White House put there by President Carter. The filmmaker uses plenty of archival material from these decades to illustrate the American people's varied responses to the environmental crisis. The result is a fine historical survey of the modern environmental movement highlighting both its flaws and its glories. Although this documentary could have been harder hitting, it does help to put into perspective how far we have come and where we need to go in the future.


Special features on the DVD include Robert Stone's first film: pollution, 1972; audio commentary with Robert Stone