    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 16 (Monday, April 25, 1994)]
    [Pages 865-870]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on the Observance of Earth Day

    April 21, 1994

        Thank you, Josephine--I saved the environment; did you like that?
    [Laughter] Thank you, Josephine, for that wonderful statement. Thank
    you, Steve, for your work, and all of you who helped to restore this
    wonderful park. And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming.
        There are so many people here we could introduce, but I do want to
    mention two others who are here: First of all, the wonderful
    Representative of the District of Columbia in the United States
    Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, thank you for coming. And the head of
    our national service movement, which is providing a lot of our foot
    soldiers in our attempt to merge the community and the environment, Mr.
    Eli Segal, thank you for coming, sir. I also see in the audience two
    people that make me wonder if we're going to be extras in a 1994 movie,
    Dennis Weaver and Chevy Chase. Thank you for coming, guys. Thank you
    both for coming. Stand up. [Applause] We're all available for tryouts,
    aren't we? [Laughter]
        I want to say a special word of thanks as I begin to Josephine
    Butler and to all the people in this community for making this park what
    it is. I'm proud to say that the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has
    designated this park as a national heritage site, not only because of
    its beauty but because of what it represents about what we, as a people,
    can do.
        The people of this community took this park back. They made it a
    place where families could come and young people could come and children
    could play. I don't know how many times in the 1980's when I was just
    visiting Washington like any other American, when I went out right by
    this park, when I would ask people over and over and over again, I said,
    ``That is the most beautiful place I've ever seen,'' and somebody from
    Washington would say, ``Well, don't go in there. It's a dangerous
    place.'' I mean, in broad daylight. I must have asked a half a dozen
    times.
        And now, because of what you have done--look at it, I mean, look at
    the fountain, the water, the beauty of this place. It's absolutely
    unbelievable and a great, incredible tribute to the people in this
    community. That's the most important thing I think we can say or do
    today, just to recognize the power of ordinary citizens to rebuild their
    own lives, environmentally, responsibly, and make their lives better at
    the same time. You are a shining example of that.
        Today, we honor the community leaders who reclaimed the park: the
    president of the Friends of Meridian Hill--how many hours have you
    donated to this, sir?--over 5,000. Reverend Morris Samuel, who courted
    his wife under a cherry tree not far from here and never stopped
    visiting this park; Malcolm Peabody, a businessman who helped to bring
    150 businesses into the Meridian Hill coalition; Antonio Montes, a
    community leader and assistant to Congresswoman Norton, who helped to
    get the first funding increase for this park in the Federal budget in
    almost 20 years; and Lieutenant Henry Berberich of the U.S. Park Police,
    who turned down several promotions because he wanted to keep protecting
    this park and who embodies the spirit of community policing at its best.
    Where are you, sir? Let's give him a big hand. [Applause]
        In just 4 years, crime in this park has declined by 90 percent.
    That's a pretty good standard for America to try to emulate. New
    businesses have moved nearby. I was in the Kalorama Studios just a
    couple of days ago doing the MTV forum with young people.

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    Just as this community has restored this park, the park has helped to
    restore the community.
        I am here today because what this community has done is what our
    country as a whole must do. In restoring a piece of nature, the people
    here have helped to restore a strong sense of place, of their history,
    of their roots, a sense of purpose, a sense of pride, and a sense of
    hope for their children, proving the wisdom of the great American
    naturalist John Muir, who founded our national parks and whose birthday
    we celebrate today. He said almost a century ago, ``Garden- and park-
    making goes on everywhere in civilization, for everybody needs beauty as
    well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and
    cheer and give strength to the body and soul.''
        Each of us has a special place where we can stand silently all
    alone, except for the presence of nature and the Creator. And if we
    don't, we need it, and we deserve it. When I was growing up, it was the
    lakes, the woods, the hills of my native State. For a young man or woman
    growing up in this community, it may well be this wonderful park.
    Preserving those things enables us to bring our communities and our
    country back together.
        There is clearly today a hunger in our national spirit not only for
    more security, for more economic opportunity but for something we can
    all be involved in that is larger than ourselves and more lasting than
    the fleeting moment. Reclaiming our rivers, our forests, our beaches,
    and our urban oases, like this one, is a great purpose worthy of a great
    people. The love of nature is at the core of our identity as
    individuals, as communities, and certainly as Americans and
    increasingly, thankfully, a part of the community of nations.
        Preserving the environment is at the core of everything we have to
    do in our own country, building businesses, creating jobs, fighting
    crime and drugs and violence, raising our children to know the
    difference between right and wrong, and restoring the fabric of our
    society. For we are here today to bear witness to a simple but powerful
    truth: As we renew our environment, we renew our national community.
        Since the first Earth Day 24 years ago, our Nation has been on a
    journey of national renewal. But as long as 70 million Americans live in
    communities where the air is dangerous to breathe; as long as half our
    rivers, our lakes, and our streams are too polluted for fishing and
    swimming; as long as people in our poorest communities face terrible
    hazards from lead paint to toxic waste dumps; as long as people around
    the world are driven from their homelands because what were their fields
    are now deserts, their fisheries are dying, and their children are
    stricken by diseases, our journey is far from finished.
        That's why we are trying to bring a new spirit of community to the
    work of protecting and restoring the environment. I have often said in
    many places that governments don't raise children, parents do. I'm here
    today because governments alone cannot save the environment, people and
    communities must.
        In everything we do to protect the environment, we must, it seems to
    me, be guided by four fundamental principles. First, we understand that
    a healthy economy and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand. In the long
    run we cannot have one without the other.
        Tomorrow people all around the world will celebrate Earth Day,
    because they care about the air they breathe and the water they drink
    just as much as we do. That's why there is now a $200 billion to $300
    billion market for environmentally conscious products, from technologies
    for cleaning toxic dumps and scrubbers for power plants to energy-
    efficient air conditioners. Last October we started our strategy to help
    American companies, large and small, get their share of that market. If
    your company makes a product or offers a service that will protect the
    environment, all over the world you can find capital, customers, and
    expert advice. We Americans can do what we set our minds to do,
    including slowing down global warming without cooling down our economy.
        A year ago on Earth Day, we made a commitment to reduce greenhouse
    gases which cause climate changes, from global warming to increasingly
    severe hurricanes. In October, we produced a plan to cut greenhouse
    gases to 1990 levels by the year 2000. Today, thousands of companies
    have come to Wash-

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    ington as partners in that goal. Many are causing less pollution because
    they're using less energy, cutting fuel bills, investing more in new
    products and new jobs, proving that good environmental policies are, in
    fact, good business.
        Last night, Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary signed an historic
    agreement with virtually the entire electric utility industry to cut
    greenhouse gases. That means some of our largest industrial polluters
    are going to clean up their act and clean up our air.
        Our climate change programs help companies and consumers save energy
    and money with air conditioners, computers, refrigerators, and light
    bulbs that use less electricity than ever before. And we're helping
    American companies to build those products and create those jobs.
        Anyone who believes that environmental quality threatens jobs can
    talk to one of the people who has already been introduced. I'd like to
    ask her to stand again, Fabiola Gonzalez. Stand up. [Applause] She came
    here today from Maybrook, New York, one of 400 workers from the Osram-
    Sylvania factory who make energy-efficient, compact, fluorescent light
    bulbs. Now, I have to tell you, to show you that we never do things as
    quickly as we could, the first time I ever heard that these light bulbs
    were the wave of the future was in 1978 from Amory Lovins, who is
    sitting out there today. Thank you, sir. This is a 23-watt replacement
    for a 90-watt bulb that lasts 10 times as long as the average light bulb
    and will save $67 in energy costs, one light bulb. And there is a huge
    market for them all over America and indeed all over the world, and a
    job for this fine woman and others who are contributing to our future.
    Thank you so much.
        There are some people who still say that if you protect the
    environment, you're going to hurt the economy. Well, there are tough
    choices to be made, but those choices can lead to more opportunity, as
    we have seen. We can't turn back the clock, and we cannot deny that
    Government has a role in helping to preserve the natural beauty of our
    rivers, our forests, our mountains, our beaches, and our parks; and not
    to create bureaucracies that grow faster than garden weeds.
        That's where the second principle comes in: reinventing the way we
    protect the environment so that Government is a partner, not an
    overseer. The Vice President has led the charge to make this
    administration a leader in the global environmental effort, and at the
    same time, to give us a Government that works better and costs less.
    He's a proven friend of the environment who's making Government a more
    effective friend of the environment.
        And I must tell you that when we started our partnership back in
    1992--and we couldn't have known even then whether we would win the
    election or not--one of the major reasons that I asked him to be part of
    a new and different relationship, to be a true partner with me, was
    because of the phenomenal insight and knowledge he had of environmental
    issues and how they had to be woven into the fabric of our life and no
    longer set out as a special problem and a special issue just for Earth
    Day but needed to be something for every day. And all Americans are in
    debt to the work that Al Gore has made the work of his lifetime.
        This year we're asking Congress to pass new and stronger laws to
    protect our lakes, our rivers, our beaches, and the water we drink, the
    ``Safe Drinking Water Act'' and the ``Clean Water Act.'' And we're
    offering new approaches to get the job done.
        Just a few months ago, folks right here in Washington, maybe a lot
    of you, had to boil their water just because the experts said it might
    be contaminated. Just a year ago in Milwaukee, a dangerous microorganism
    got into the water supply, killing more than 100 people and causing tens
    of thousands to become ill. In New York and in other cities all across
    the country, people are afraid they might be next. In this great country
    we can do better, and we must do better than letting people die from
    dirty drinking water. That's why we're fighting for a stronger and
    smarter ``Safe Drinking Water Act.'' We want to keep communities with
    healthy water systems, so parents won't feel a fear when their children
    brush their teeth in the morning. We can do it for our children and our
    families and our future, and we will.
        But rather than dictate from Washington, we want to help communities
    develop their

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    own plans to clean up their own water supplies without a bureaucrat
    telling them that water problems in Philadelphia are the same as they
    are in Phoenix, because they're often just not the same. With a stronger
    and smarter ``Clean Water Act,'' we can reclaim our waterways, make it
    safe to eat fish and swim in the rivers and surf in the beaches. And in
    the process we'll create new jobs, from engineers to pipefitters.
        We've proposed changes in the Superfund to make cleanups faster,
    cheaper, and more effective. Many of these toxic waste dumps cause
    urgent dangers to public health. And we owe it to communities to make
    the Superfund work for them.
        And we want to give you a Government that leads by example, not just
    by command and control. You know, the United States Government, for
    example, is one of the world's leading buyers of goods and services. And
    we're using that buying power to create a new market for new products
    that save energy and protect the environment, wasting less of your
    natural resources and less of your tax dollars.
        A year ago on Earth Day I pledged to use the Presidential pen to
    make our Government the greenest in history. I've signed Executive
    orders to use recycled products, from paper to retread tires. We're
    reducing Federal energy consumption by 30 percent and saving the
    taxpayers a billion dollars a year using more cars and trucks that run
    on alternative fuel that cause less pollution, from compressed natural
    gas to electrical power. Our Federal facilities are cutting their own
    toxic emissions by 50 percent and complying with community right-to-know
    laws.
        The White House is becoming a showcase for energy efficiency and
    environmental responsibility. Hillary and Chelsea and I have recycling
    bins in our kitchen. We have a new refrigerator, built in my home State,
    that uses 50 percent less electricity than most refrigerators and
    doesn't use gases that deplete the ozone layer. We're using less water
    on the lawn, fewer pesticides on the ground, and more efficient air
    conditioners in the big Old Executive Office Building. We're trying to
    do our part.
        Protecting the environment begins in our homes and in our
    communities. And I came here to demonstrate that commitment in a third
    principle: Government should work with local folks, not over them. You
    did this; we didn't. We provided a little more tax money, but you did
    it. We're working with communities through our national service program,
    AmeriCorps. Thousands of young men and women are working in communities
    while earning money for their education. Starting 2 months from now, a
    special part of AmeriCorps will work not far from here. The new National
    Civilian Community Corps, based out of the Aberdeen Army Base in
    Maryland, will work with community groups to reclaim the Anacostia
    River, stabilizing its banks, skimming off the trash, redesigning and
    replanting it.
        For too long, this kind of pollution has been associated and
    concentrated in poor communities, from central cities to small towns.
    And for too long, Government has been part of the problem, not part of
    the solution.
        I'll never forget a young man named Pernell Brewer, whom I met at
    our children's town hall meeting last year. He comes from a part of
    Louisiana now known as ``Cancer Alley'' because it's filled with
    chemical plants that may contribute to the unusually high cancer rates
    found there in Louisiana. And he told me that 20 of his relatives have
    had cancer; many have died of it, including his 10-year-old brother who
    died of a rare brain tumor.
        We cannot stand by while people are suffering and dying. That's why
    I signed an Executive order on environmental justice, to make sure that
    Government controls environmental hazards in every community in this
    country. And Government should encourage people to work together, not
    pit business and workers and environmentalists against each other.
        When I asked for the Presidency 2 years ago, I met people whose
    lives were literally torn apart because Government refused to resolve
    the tensions between protecting our ancient forests and logging on
    Federal lands. Just over a year ago, at a conference in Portland,
    Oregon, we brought together loggers, environmentalists, and community
    leaders from the great Pacific Northwest and Cabi-

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    net officials responsible for environmental policy, for commerce, and
    for labor.
        I met people like one man who's come all across the country to be
    with us here today. I'd like to introduce him to you, Mr. Eric
    Hollenbeck. Eric, stand up. [Applause] Eric came here today from Eureka,
    California. His family business was logging. He cares about his
    community with all of his heart, and he understands that in order to
    survive, his industry and his community have to embrace change. That's
    why when hard times hit the logging industry, Eric changed his company
    from logging to woodworking. And that's why today he's teaching young
    people woodworking, masonry, home building, metal working, and printing.
    He has made a change to help save the environment and preserve the
    economy of his community. And we owe him a lot for his courage. Thank
    you, sir.
        Most of the people I met out there had differences of opinion on a
    lot of these issues. But they wanted an end to the posturing, an end to
    the conflict. They wanted us to make some tough decisions so that people
    could move on with their lives and move on with the common goal of
    making a living and preserving the environment.
        Our fourth principle is that we have to understand the urgency and
    magnitude of this environmental issue as a global crisis. We have to
    work to stop famine and stabilize population growth and prevent further
    environmental degradation. If we fail, these problems will cause
    terrorism, tension, and war. None of us can live without fear as long as
    so many people must live without hope. That's why we're working around
    the world to protect fresh water resources, to preserve forests, to
    protect endangered species, leading a fight for strong environmental
    protection in our global negotiations on trade.
        We must never forget that we share the air and the planet and our
    destiny with all the people of the world. And we must help people in
    poorer countries to understand that they, too, can find better ways to
    make a living without destroying their forests and their other natural
    resources.
        The nations of the world are working together to achieve what is now
    called ``sustainable growth,'' growth that meets the needs of the
    present without sacrificing the needs of the future. It's an ethic as
    modern as microprocessors and as old as the Scriptures. In our homes and
    houses of worship, we often learn the Golden Rule, ``Do unto others as
    you would have them do unto you.'' Sustainable development is the Golden
    Rule for our children and our grandchildren and their grandchildren.
        And I want to give you the last example of that. Last June I asked
    25 leaders from across the country to join the President's Council on
    Sustainable Development, to look carefully at communities practicing
    sustainable development with an eye toward developing a strategy that
    any community in the country could embrace.
        And we can all learn from a town called Valmeyer, Illinois. Under
    the leadership of Mayor Dennis Knobloch, who is also with me here
    today--stand up, Mayor--[applause]--this community is literally
    recreating itself. It was part of the great middle-western flood. They
    were in a flood plain. And they decided that they would move and
    recreate a totally sustainable development community. They're building
    their homes, their stores, and their schools to be energy efficient.
    They're even thinking about solar-powered street lights and geothermal
    heating systems.
        We can go to this community and watch it grow, keeping the community
    roots, understanding what happened in the flood, being committed to a
    sustainable environment for the river, for the land, and for a new
    community that is as old as the deepest roots in the beginning of
    Valmeyer, Illinois. We owe a lot to these people. They're setting an
    example that all of us will be able to learn from, too, for years and
    years to come.
        So today, in this wonderful park, let me end where we began. Let
    every American look to the example of the people here in this park, to
    the example of people like Fabiola Gonzalez and Eric Hollenbeck and
    Mayor Dennis Knobloch and the wonderful people of Valmeyer, Illinois. We
    can all listen to the love of nature in our hearts and rejoice in our
    responsibilities to pass along a better and more beautiful country to
    our children and their children and understand that part of our common
    responsibility to the future

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    is preserving the environment and that that will make our present
    better.
        Three decades ago, President Kennedy said, ``It is our task in our
    time and in our generation to hand down, undiminished to those who come
    after us, as was handed down to us by those who came before, the natural
    wealth and beauty which is ours.'' This wonderful community has kept
    that faith. So must we all.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:21 a.m. in Meridian Hill Park. In his
    remarks, he referred to Josephine Butler, vice chair, Stephen W.
    Coleman, founder and president, and Rev. Morris Samuel, vice chair
    emeritus, Friends of Meridian Hill; actors Dennis Weaver and Chevy
    Chase; and Amory Lovins, director of research, Rocky Mountain Institute,
    Snowmass, CO. A tape was not available for verification of the content
    of these remarks.