Today marks the 44th anniversary of Earth Day. Many consider April 22, 1970 to be the birth of the modern environmental movement.
At that time, Earth Day organizers had an advantage: The environmental problems were highly visible, tangible problems that people came up against in their daily lives, such as toxic effluent from factories spilled into streams and rivers. Kids couldn't swim in lakes and rivers because they were too polluted. Parks and highways were strewn with trash and air pollution made people sick.
You could draw a direct connection between these problems and the need for environmental action to improve the quality of life for everyone.
Many of today's biggest environmental concerns seem more abstract even though they are perhaps even more threatening than the burning river in Cleveland. Global warming is one example.
That's why a study by our next guest caught our eye. He found that what is happening to moths in Finnish Lapland suggests that we're underestimating the impacts of climate change because much of the harm is hidden from view.
Mark Hunter is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan, and he joined us today.
Listen to the full interview above.
