Saturday marked Earth Day, and an opportunity to assess and reflect on this nation’s past, present and future events and issues concerning our environment.

When the observance started in 1970 — it was founded by a Wisconsinite, Sen. Gaylord Nelson — the U.S. environment was, to be charitable, a mess. Air and water pollution, especially in our cities, was rampant. Starting with farms and including landfills and manufacturing sites, pollution of the land was also a dangerous problem. Not only was Nelson concerned about the sorry state of our environment, he objected to the lack of attention and commitment toward the issue by politicians and news outlets. That’s where we were 53 years ago, when the first Earth Day, a grassroots movement, featured coast-to-coast demonstrations involving an estimated 20 million people demanding a healthier environment. Before the year was out, the federal government passed the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts and created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It appeared that lawmakers and media leaders finally were getting it.

Today, while there are notable exceptions and concerns — water quality in farm states, for example — awareness, moral commitment and enforcement have resulted in a U.S. environment that is better than it was a half-century ago.

Still, it’s tough for citizens concerned about the environment to feel enthusiastic on Earth Day 2023. Our present does not bode well for our future. Consider:

• According to the latest report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, humanity must reduce carbon emissions from 2022 levels by 45% by 2030 and to net zero by 2050 to keep global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit — which would avoid cataclysmic impacts to nearly every aspect of society.

• Even at 2.7 degrees warming or lower, impacts of climate change already beginning — more severe and more common drought and extreme weather events, unpredictable conditions for both food production and ecosystems, increased vulnerability for communities along waterways and near wild areas where fire can spread — will only get worse, requiring accelerated mitigation efforts ahead of time.

• Soil and nutrient runoff into surface water has continued to heavily pollute the Mississippi River, causing a great deal of ecological harm downstream in the Gulf of Mexico — especially from Iowa, the biggest contributor to this pollution, where the state’s nutrient reduction strategy includes some incentives but no requirements for landowners to implement practices proven to reduce nutrient runoff and sequester carbon in the soil.

While our environment was under assault from pollution in 1970, and significant progress has been made since then, our environment is subject to assaults in other forms, including rollback of important protections that have served the public well. Environmental progress is not guaranteed. Citizens who care need to remain vigilant and hold public- and private-sector leaders accountable.

— Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald