Bloomingdale, NY, Apr 23, 2010 — Before the first Earth Day, 40 years ago, there was no Environmental Protection Agency. No Clean Water, Clean Air or Endangered Species Acts. No concerns about global warming. There was little public understanding at all of the changes humans have inflicted on the planet.

Now, there is plenty of bad news about the Earth. But some things remain pretty much the same, and will persist long into the future if passionate scientists, researchers, and just-plain-folk have their way.

For this 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day, we have a collaborative postcard from the outdoors, from Brian Mann, and Nancy Cohen of WNPR in Hartford, Conn.

Northeast environmental reporting is made possible, in part, by a grant from United Technologies, and is part of NPR's Local News Initiative