Locals Observe Earth Day 2010

LANSDOWNE, Va. - FOX 5’s Sarah Simmons visited the employees of the National Conference Center to see how they are observing Earth Day 2010.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the most obvious and in-your-face sources of pollution are much reduced.

Nationwide smog levels are down by a quarter, and lead levels in the air are down more than 90 percent. And lakes and rivers that were badly polluted are now open to swimmers.

But today, the challenges that remain are largely invisible -- and tougher to tackle.

Since that first Earth Day, the government says carbon dioxide levels have increased by 19 percent, pushing the average annual world temperature up about 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Kathleen Rogers of the Earth Day Network says "We've cleaned up what you can see and left everything else in limbo."

On the Net:

http://planetdayofservice.org/home/index.php

http://www.blueridgewildlife.org/home.htm