Happy Anniversary, Earth Day!

Happy 50th Anniversary Earth Day from Pavement Technology! Pavement Technology, Inc. (PTI) is disappointed to be unable to celebrate the 50th Earth Day with our friends at EarthX2020 due to COVID-19. But we are all thankful our nation has embraced the challenge, and the curve has started to bend – that’s what matters most.

Just the same, the world’s conservationists and environmentalists, PTI included, will be sharing many virtual Earth Day celebrations on Wednesday, April 22nd.

Meanwhile, the pandemic crisis is showing us all just how critical urban smog has become in our built world, as demonstrated by its absence during the current shut downs. From the mountain peaks of the Himalaya, which have not been visible in decades…to the fish feeding in the now-clean canals of Venice…to the dramatic NASA Earth Observatory photos of our greatest metropolises – we can’t help but wonder at the irony of all of this occurring while we are celebrating Earth Day’s 50th anniversary.

Today, our great challenge is to improve our impact on the planet, without reversing the advance of human progress. That challenge is one we can all too comfortably ignore during normal times. But the stark before-and-after evidence of the near-universal lockdowns on air quality is setting society’s stretch goal of what’s achievable. It should motivate us towards minimizing its impact through corrective action.

PTI is proud of the contributions our company has made towards that end. We started out just about the same time as Earth Day, at the dawn of the environmental age, with sustainable pavement science that conserves natural resources through roadway preservation. Today, our latest technology is targeting the effects of vehicular pollution and Urban Heat Island (UHI) at the critical roadway point source. A single mile of our “smog eating roads” can consume as much carbon as a 20-acre forest of trees.

It’s no coincidence that Earth Day and PTI are sharing a golden anniversary – Happy 50th!