Earth Day has once again come and gone, noticed by some, ignored or dismissed by others, and likely not part of most people’s awareness at all.

It might well have escaped my own radar if Google hadn’t given its celebration a nod with one of those cleverly illustrated attention getters accompanying its search bar. That was more recognition than the mainstream media I frequent could manage among all the other more pressing news items needed to be conveyed as crucial to a well informed public. What those were that day I can’t recall. I just remember noting how inconsequential Earth Day came across even though this year’s anniversary coincided with the opening date for signatory commitment to the Paris Agreement on world-wide climate change action.

That agreement is a monumental achievement, even if its more than ever necessity only underscores the overall failure of Earth Day’s previous 46 years.

It’s a monumental achievement because it has finally accomplished an international acknowledgment that the planet’s geopolitical priorities must change and change quickly. Each year since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has been a rallying cry for a global address of environmental concerns. Until now, that cry fell on mostly deaf ears as far as major world powers were concerned, especially those whom are the largest contributors to planetary degradation. For 46 years, each nation has independently decided how, or if, to be environmentally responsible. Now, with this nonbinding but ambitious treaty, some significant progress towards reducing world carbon emissions might finally be achieved.

Might.

At least world politics now recognizes that we’re all in this world together, and that sustained environmental costs ignored by individual nations eventually multiply to a cost all nations combined cannot afford to disregard. Weather change knows no boundaries. Ocean rise will reach all shores. That reality is so inarguably apparent that any national denial of climate change irrationally and selfishly endangers all nations.

The Metro’s Yellow Line from Ronald Reagan Airport into D.C. briefly rises aboveground to cross the Potomac before disappearing below our nation’s capital. As it does so, it runs parallel to I-395’s bumper-to-bumper parade of carbon emitting traffic as if to drive home the point that even at peak commuter demand the Metro remains a marvel of affordable, efficient and convenient Green transportation.

Recently riding that marvel, I couldn’t help wonder if such enlightened mass transit will ever be realized by the nation as a whole. I also couldn’t help considering the irony that if climate change continues to be denied by some of our capital’s elected officials, the Metro will likely soon be flooded by a rising Potomac.

The Metro opened in 1976. I remember how inviting its modern vaulted design was compared to the oppressive rail transit of New York, Boston and Chicago. Despite its need today of a complete infrastructure overhaul, it still remains impressive. Riding it still seems like a trip to the future, chiefly because its fulfillment of the tenets of Earth Day has so rarely been emulated elsewhere. San Francisco’s BART is the only other rival that readily comes to mind. In between, America’s highways and bridges look more and more like dystopian movie sets than the robust infrastructure of capitalist success.

So much of the argument against progressive environmental policy comes down to myopic self-interests refusing to commit to necessary investment in the future. Somehow, America’s become convinced that it simply can’t afford the cost of environmental sustainability when the reality staring us in the face is that we can’t afford to do otherwise.

Rather than a constant wake-up call, “Extreme Weather” news segments have become just more media entertainment for those believing that lightning will always strike elsewhere.

America’s carbon-based economic engine races on, penny wise and pound foolish in believing that the cost of environmental impacts can be deferred indefinitely while consuming seed corn borrowed from the next generation. One can only laugh, or cry, at the tragicomic inanity of such delusional optimism that continued recklessly harmful behavior won’t eventually affect everyone.

There’s a great op-ed cartoon that depicts a climate summit audience attentive to those presenting the argument for environmental action. Projected on a screen behind the panel of experts is a list of their agenda: “Energy Independence, Rain Forest Preservation, Sustainability, Green Jobs, Livable Cities, Renewables, Clean Water and Air.” From the back of the audience one person stands asking: “But, what if it is a big hoax, and we create a better world for nothing?”

In the mainstream presidential race there’s much talk of “making America great again,” much talk about the threats from terrorism and the excesses of Wall Street. Those unafraid of venturing into the weeds even warn of the inscrutable TPP. But, the Paris Agreement and its vital importance to our national and economic security is hardly mentioned.

Why are we so stubbornly incapable of seeing that the planet’s most nightmarish enemy is not ISIS, but irresponsible environmental disregard? When will we make that reality the foremost criterion in choosing our leadership? When will Earth Day finally be widely celebrated rather than perennially shunned?

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Gary Anderson lives in Bath.