Even those who disagreed with its specific actions gave lip service to its general values. The huge success of the first Earth Day lay in the way it reached out to everyone with a simple, clear message. It was inclusive, not exclusive. And it helped to fashion a majoritarian consensus around environmental values that still endures. The goals of the Earth Day 2000 Agenda are ambitious but possible.
Every goal is considered too high by some and too low by others.
But these are within people's comfort zone - with a little stretching in some cases. The energy future contains huge uncertainties over prices, rates of technological innovation, and economic growth. Assumptions of 20 years ago missed today's price of oil by a factor of four and the likely fuel efficiency of cars by a factor of two. No one thought fuel cells would be a hot ticket before photovoltaics. Even fuel cells' biggest fans did not think their initial applications would be in cars.