Donald Burger was active in the first Earth Days over 50 years ago as a science teacher in the Gov. Mifflin School District. He now enjoys Earth Day by watching the birds in his Cumru Township backyard feeding station. (BILL UHRICH - READING EAGLE)

Donald Burger relaxes in the sunroom of his Cumru Township home with his wife of 63 years Jean Ann, keeping a list of birds that visit his extensive feeding station outside for the Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by Cornell University.

A bluebird flies up to a suet log and pecks away at the fat. Burger relates how one day recently he was looking up through the skylight and saw a bald eagle pass over their home.

Those two sights are rather commonplace now, but back during the first Earth Day in 1970, those two birds would not have been so easily found in Berks County, if at all.

Those were heady days for the environmental movement back in the spring of 1970, essentially because there was so much work that needed to be done.

And Burger, a biology teacher who started at Gov. Mifflin High School in 1956, was more than willing to pitch in.

U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin Democrat, founded the first Earth Day to raise awareness of impending legislation that would become the Clean Air Act.

Over 20 million Americans took part in activities in schools and colleges to highlight the environment.

Back then, there was bipartisan consensus on the importance of environmental protection, and under the administration of Republican President Richard M. Nixon, environmental legislation cascaded through Congress and to his desk for passage:

The Clean Air Act was passed a few months after the first Earth Day.

The Environmental Protection Agency was established in December 1970.

The EPA banned DDT in June 1972, which led to the comeback of the bald eagle, the osprey and the peregrine falcon, all birds that were almost wiped out due to eggshell thinning caused by the pesticide.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 was amended in 1972 to include all hawks and owls, blue jays and crows, providing federal protection to all native bird species in the U.S.

And the Endangered Species Act was passed in December 1973.

Those were teachable moments.

And Burger and his students embraced them all with a particular emphasis on recycling.

There is no away, Burger said, recalling the impetus that became the Gov. Mifflin Ecology Bus, a mobile recycling center that he and over 200 students ran for 11 years.

You throw away things, but they dont go anyplace, he said. Theyre still here.

Ill bet we collected enough material that would have completely filled the gymnasium.

Burger had been particularly concerned about the ubiquitous use of plastics since they persist in the environment. Microplastics have been recently found in the human body with yet unknown health effects.

The plastics dont break down, he said. There hasnt been any evolution of a bacteria that would digest plastic. So it stays in the landfill.

A more recent concern is climate change brought about by global warming.

When you think of deforestation in the Amazon, with the rise of carbon dioxide and of course the warming of the oceans, the North Atlantic, off in Maine, the waters of the Gulf of Maine have warmed, he said. Theres less phytoplankton, and it affects the food web along with excessive fertilization with the runoff into the streams that causes algae blooms.

Burger can see through something as simple as an individual bird how global warming is having an effect on the environment.

We have a little bird, a Carolina wren, I first saw them when we lived in Shillington around 1968, he said.

The bird was at its northern limits in Berks and often died off in severe winters but now is a year-round resident.

In my humble opinion, thats an example of the effect of global warming, he said. A southern bird has come north, and we have it here every day.

Burger can trace his interest in conservation to the inspiration of his own teachers in the Reading School District, with one in particular.

I ended up teaching at Gov. Mifflin for 37 years, he said. I wanted to become Sam Gundy.

Gundy was perhaps the most complete Berks County naturalist of the 20th century. He was mentored by Reading Public Museum founder Levi Mengel, taught biology in the Reading School District before becoming director of the museum, and finally closed out his career as a biology professor at Kutztown University. Gundy died in 2010 at age 92.

Gundy introduced Burger to Hawk Mountain and its curator Maurice Broun, and Burger followed up with taking his students to Hawk Mountain over the years.

Gundy also introduced Burger to the local Baird Ornithological Club, and in 1952 Burger became the youngest president of the organization at age 20.

Now, he said with a smile, Im the oldest former president.

Burger will celebrate his 91st birthday a little over a week after an Earth Day that will include watching the birds at his feeders.

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Retired Gov. Mifflin biology teacher reflects on 53 years of Earth Days - Reading Eagle