Raise a glass for the Earth!

Festivities hailing the 31st Earth Day will fade too soon from our memories. But the Pacific Research Institute gives everyone something important to remember about our environment. Its annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators lays out a foundation of facts documenting the long strides Americans have taken to protect their natural surroundings. A sampling of results:

• Since the first Earth Day in 1970, air pollution has dropped 64 percent;
• In the dozen years since 1988, the amount of toxics introduced into the environment have fallen 45 percent; and
• The percentage of Americans living in counties that meet Clean Air standards rose from barely 50 percent in 1988 to 80 percent by the late '90s.

Accomplishments like those have hastened a new era of weighing environmental choices more carefully. For instance, officials in California say that one windpower site there kills an estimated 39 golden eagles annually -- or about eight times the toll from 1989's Exxon Valdez oil spill. This sixth edition of the Index also features a special section on Energy and the Environment, as policymakers get set to grapple with the current energy crunch.

Click here for the study.