By Jeff Tittel

This year's Earth Day on April 22 is the most critical since that first one because President Trump is trying to roll back 47 years of protections.

Before the first Earth Day in 1970 rivers caught fire, including the Passaic. Smog and air pollution clogged many major cities and people wore masks. Some of our rivers were nothing better than open sewers.

On that day, 20 million people across the country came together. Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and dozens of other places demanding action to protect our air and water. In New Jersey, I helped organize the clean-up of the Elizabeth River with other 7th-graders.

After this, the law creating the Environmental Protection Agency was passed as people started to talk about the dangers of climate change.

We also demanded the passage of the Clean Water Act. And after Richard Nixon vetoed the legislation in 1972, large numbers of people marched on Washington gain. As a result of the public outcry, Congress overwhelming overrode his veto.

Here we are, nearly 50 years later, and President Trump has declared war on the environment, by ending programs to stop climate change and reduce air pollution. He's rolling back protections to allow coal ash to be dumped into rivers, while renewing GOP attempts to dismantle the EPA. For him, climate change is a dirty word that scientists at the EPA are forbidden from using.

He eliminated Obama's Clean Power Plan, gutted rules to reduce methane emissions, and stopped environmental reviews from considering climate change. We're concerned that he may even pull the U.S. out of the Paris Accord.

Not only is President Fossil Fool going after climate change, he's going after almost every environmental program. He's opening public lands and coasts for drilling and pushing through pipelines without environmental reviews. He's rolling back fuel economy standards for automobiles which means higher costs and more pollution. Trump is siding with corporate polluters over our public health.

When you roll back protections on climate change and sea level rise, more communities are devastated.

When you cut enforcement, chemical plants blow up.

When you allow coal mines to dump toxic waste into our rivers, they get poisoned.

When you eliminate clean air protections, our air becomes poisoned.

When you cut programs for lead, children get poisoned.

There are real consequences to Trump's war on the environment.

Need more?

Trump is cutting the EPA budget by 31 percent and getting rid of thousands of staff. He's cutting science by 50 percent. Trump plans to cut the EPA budget will cause states to lose 45 percent in funding. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection gets half of its money from the EPA. This means Trump's cuts will have a drastic effect on our ability to protect our resources and will lead to layoffs. He is also cutting funding for Superfund Sites by 30 percent, which means delays or cancellations of clean-ups of New Jersey's 118 sites such as the chromium site in Garfield or the Passaic River. Trump and EPA chief Scott Pruitt are siding with corporate polluters instead of our health and climate.

Despite the current threats to our environment, people are more engaged than ever. More than 60 percent of Americans disagree with Trump's environmental actions. Increasing numbers of people have become more active by attending Congressional meetings and local town halls. We need to come together on this Earth Day like we never have before. A generation of progress is at risk, as is the future of our state, our country and our planet.

We need to stand up for science at the March for Science on Saturday in Trenton and Washington. We need to protest against climate-deniers in Washington D.C. on April 29 at the People's Climate March. We need to stand together for clean air, clean water, and to protect our planet from climate change.

Jeff Tittel is director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. The Sierra Club is the nation's oldest and largest environmental group with millions of members worldwide. Click here to join the Sierra Club and go here to learn more about the People's Climate March on April 29th.

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