This Nation has realized significant environmental improvements

Hear the words of Jerry Costello, who proclaimed with pride and solemn remembrance: “This Nation has realized significant environmental improvements over the last three decades.” At first hearing, these words seem a record of policy and progress, but beneath them lies a deeper truth about the endurance of human will, the capacity for change, and the possibility of healing the wounds we ourselves have inflicted upon the earth. Costello speaks not only of laws and technologies, but of a long struggle where vision, sacrifice, and persistence transformed despair into hope.

When he says that this Nation has realized improvements, he speaks to the United States, a land whose rivers once burned with pollution, whose skies choked with smog, whose children breathed poison without knowing it. The late twentieth century was marked by awakening: voices rose against the neglect of nature, and a movement was born. From the Clean Air Act to the Clean Water Act, from the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency to the banning of poisons like DDT, great strides were made. In these decades, bald eagles returned to the skies, lakes once thought dead revived with fish, and air once gray with soot grew clear enough for the stars to be seen again.

Consider the story of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio, which caught fire in 1969, its waters so polluted with oil and waste that flames leapt upon the current. That fire became a symbol of shame, awakening the conscience of a nation. In the years that followed, through regulation, investment, and vigilance, the river was cleansed, its wildlife restored. Today, the Cuyahoga flows as testament to what Costello calls significant environmental improvements—proof that what was broken can be made whole again when a people act with courage and resolve.

Yet Costello’s words are not only triumph but also warning. For the phrase “over the last three decades” reminds us that such progress was neither quick nor easy. It came through long battles in courts, through protests in the streets, through the steady labor of scientists and citizens who refused to surrender to despair. Improvements came not because of neglect, but because of vigilance. They remind us that the guardianship of the earth requires constant attention, lest old poisons return in new forms.

The emotional essence of his message is hope tempered with responsibility. To hear that progress has been made is to be encouraged; to remember the cost of that progress is to be humbled. For every river restored, countless others still suffer; for every law passed, there are those who seek to undo its power. Costello’s words stand as both a monument to past victories and a call to continued action, lest the flame of improvement flicker and fade.

The lesson, O listener, is clear: progress is possible, but it is never permanent without vigilance. Celebrate the victories of the past, but do not rest upon them. The earth requires stewards, not only in moments of crisis, but in every generation. The healing of the land is a journey without end, one that must be walked by those who remember the past and guard the future.

What then shall you do? First, honor the progress of those who came before by preserving the laws and protections they fought to establish. Second, continue the work of restoration in your own sphere—plant trees, protect water, reduce waste, and teach others to do the same. Third, remain watchful of those who would undo these environmental improvements for profit or convenience, for the gains of thirty years can be lost in one careless decade.

And remember always: the story of this Nation’s improvements is not only about rivers and skies—it is about the spirit of a people who refused to accept destruction as destiny. Jerry Costello’s words remind us that even the gravest wounds to the earth can heal when courage and wisdom unite. Take this truth into your heart, and let it guide your hand, that future generations may also look back and say: “This Nation, in our time, continued to bring forth blessings for the earth and all who dwell upon it.”